The Picture: Part 3-The Training
by CandasaurFlag
Summary: Sequel to The Picture: Part 2-The Vengeance. Trisaria is lost, and Candace is now facing a new life on a new planet. Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, and Stacy are all hunting for her, unsure of where exactly she went. In the midst of this, they can all hear the distant rumble of war on the horizon-and ALL of them will get caught up in it. T for violence, mild language, bathroom humor.
1. Chapter 1: Everyone's Next Steps

AUTHOR'S NOTE: For all those who have come this far, I say unto you, well done.

You have endured _The Vengeance_ (or cheated and read the summary) and reached

what I consider to be the good part of the story. If you have not read Parts One

and Two of _The Picture_ yet I strongly recommend that you read them before

reading this part because it will not make sense. Anyway, here's the story.

The Picture: Part Three-The Training

Chapter 1: Everyone's Next Steps

WOW. Ferb thought. When he'd come to Red River Bridge he'd expected

to find, you know, a bridge. What he found was a pile of rubble strewn across

the big river. On the bank he was on (the city side) and on the opposite bank

he saw the shells of bombed-out vehicles, alien corpses, ruined barricades and

random weapons scattered about. The street that led into the city from the

bridge was little more than a few million craters with tiny chunks of pavement

and the occasional alien body part remaining. The huge buildings on either

side of the street were scarred black from explosions.

"This must've been some battle," Ferb observed.

Perry chattered.

"I have to wonder if Candace even survived it."

They weren't the only ones there. All around them were relatively

small, red, dinosaur creatures that looked a lot like Candace, cleaning up the

mess. Ferb figured that they must've been the conquered race-Tkpxzv were

standing guard over them, beating anyone who attempted to escape or who slowed

their working pace. Not surprisingly, the enslaved dinosaurs looked a little

less than happy.

"I wonder if Phineas understands what he did by helping the Tkpxzv

conquer this planet," Ferb asked.

Perry chattered again.

Ferb sighed. Conversation between the world's most quiet inventor and

a secret agent platypus was kind of... one-sided, to say the least.

Coming into space had given him a lot more questions than it had

answered. He had jumped into a world he knew nothing about, with politics,

history and creatures he'd never heard of, who were somehow connected to his

missing sister, who he had no idea how to find.

He looked around at the oppressed creatures. He wanted to help them,

but he knew he had to find Candace first. He wasn't here to save the

universe, he was there to save his sister.

"Well Perry, let's get started shall we?" Ferb said.

Perry growled in agreement.

Ferb pulled out a homemade DNA tracker (notice how with almost any

other character I'd have to explain how they'd gotten it), turned it on, and

set it to home in on Candace's DNA structure.

"If Candace left any trace of herself here, this will show us where

it's at."

They waited a few seconds, then the tracker started beeping. Ferb and

Perry followed the tracker to the back of a smashed barricade on the river

bank. The two searched the area until Perry found what the tracker was homing

in on. From the rubble he pulled one, long strand of red hair.

Perry chattered.

Ferb turned and looked at what Perry had found. Perry handed him the

strand.

Ferb held it in front of his face and studied it, "Well Perry," he

said, "We know one thing. Candace was definitely here."

Perry gurgled in agreement.

A shadow peered out from under the lid of a trash can, watching Perry

and Ferb.

"What are they doing?" it muttered under it's breath. It's eyes swept

the battlefield.

"If Candace was here, shouldn't they, like, ask people if they saw her

or something?" it whispered. The shadow was focused on Ferb and Perry and

didn't notice a red dinosaur coming toward the trash can with a bag about

ready to burst with garbage.

"What's Ferb hold-" the shadow felt the lid lift off it's head. It

looked up and screamed as the dinosaur held the huge bag over it's head.

The dinosaur leapt back and shrieked as well, dropping it's bag and

smashing it all over the pavement.

"KTGBH YTHX!" a Tkpxzv roared. It barreled toward the dinosaur,

raising a weapon that looked like a whip.

The poor dinosaur ran for it's backside, while the shadow sank back

into the trash. The shadow watched as the dinosaur ran down the bombed-out

street and down an alleyway, chased by the Tkpxzv guard. The shadow was

intrigued, so, after making sure no one was looking, it quickly got out of the

trash and dashed over to the alleyway, slinking into the shadows near the

alleyway and glancing around the corner.

The dinosaur was attempting to climb the fence at the back of the

alley to escape. The Tkpxzv caught up and caught its leg with its whip,

bringing it crashing down on it's back. The dinosaur attempted to rise, but

was felled by the Tkpxzv's whip. It cried out as the Tkpxzv began torturing

it, beating it with it's weapon.

The shadow didn't watch long before it decided it should probably

help. It grabbed a knife from it's belt and snuck forward, careful not to

make a sound. When it was close, the shadow charged, leapt and stabbed down

into the back of the Tkpxzv's head.

The Tkpxzv froze, then it fell hard to the ground. It convulsed for a

few moments, attempted to rise, and then fell again and went still.

The cowering dinosaur sat up. It looked at the dead Tkpxzv, and then

looked around in confusion.

"H-hello?" it called uncertainly.

"You speak English?"

The dinosaur screeched and nearly jumped out of it's skin. It cowered

again as a tall, slim, figure with long, dark, hair stepped out of the

shadows. The figure wore a light blue blouse, skirt and bow. It also was

carrying a backpack and an array of improvised weapons. But what struck the

Candasaur most was it's headband.

The figure wore a bright red headband with a white "C" stamped in the

center.

"Wh-who are you?" the dinosaur asked.

"Stacy Hirano," the figure replied.

"Y-you're a human? Like Candace? Why do you wear her colors on your

head?"

Stacy nearly burst with delight, "You know Candace?"

"Not personally. She was here a couple days ago, trying to save us

from the Tkpxzv. Unfortunately, even she couldn't defeat them, it seems..."

"Did she survive the battle?"

"I don't know. She seems to have gone missing."

"Do you know anyone who would know?"

The dinosaur thought a moment, "Maybe," it replied, getting up and

climbing the fence, "Follow me, but be quiet, Tkpxzv are everywhere."

Stacy quickly followed the dinosaur over the fence, hoping beyond

hope that this was her first step toward finding her best friend.

In the meantime, Ferb and Perry were considering their next move.

They had had their backs turned and had missed the action.

"We know she was here... but how does that help us?" Ferb wondered.

Perry growled.

"Ah, welcome, Phineas of Earth!" the governor said, "And welcome to

you too, Isabella."

"Hey governor, what's up?" Phineas asked.

"As my messenger probably told you, I have a new assignment ready for

you."

"What is it?" Isabella asked.

"It is in the same system as your last assignment, with more or less

the same objective. I am sending you two to support our forces in the

invasion of Tizilidai, the planet of the Alions!"

Phineas looked surprised, "You're going to attack the Alions'

Home world? Isn't that like... suicide? Even for the Tkpxzv?"

"Before the Battle of Candasaurus City, it would have been. But now

we have you and your Discourager Ray. After I heard that your invention

turned the Alions to flight in your last battle with them, I knew that we

finally had what we needed to defeat them."

"When do we attack?" Phineas asked.

"In Sol time... about five days."

"That's quick!" Phineas exclaimed.

"Governor, sir, how are you going to gather enough troops to defeat

them in such a short time?" Isabella inquired.

"Yeah, most of the force you had attack Trisaria was wiped out!"

Phineas added.

"We are conscripting troops from all over the Alpha Centauri sector.

They will be poorly armed and poorly trained, but there will be many of them,

and with the help of your Discourager Ray, I'm sure they can prevail. It

doesn't really take any experience to defeat an opponent that's too afraid to

even fight back."

"That's true, but it still pays to be prepared," Isabella pointed out.

"Never you mind, you two. Making grand strategic decisions isn't your

job. If we succeed, it will be to our credit, and if we fail, I will be the

one who gets blamed. Trouble yourselves not with these matters."

"Okay..." Phineas agreed uncertainly.

"Good. Phineas, I want at least four more of those Discourager Rays

built by the time we attack. You will need to train a few of your men to

operate them. You may continue operating one of them."

"Sure."

"Isabella?"

"Yes?"

"Make sure he gets those rays done, and get together a few soldiers to

protect the rays and their operators on the battlefield."

"Will do."

"And be sure to train for combat, particularly with your gun, before

the attack. Phineas will need your protection."

"Aye aye."

"Aye aye. Now go get ready you two. Days are longer here, Sirius

will have only set twice before it is time for the battle. Make sure that you

are ready."

Phineas and Isabella agreed again, then turned and left the room.


	2. Chapter 2: A Date with Destiny

Chapter 2: A Date with Destiny

Candace's raggedy red hair whipped across her face as she sat with her

feet over the side of the rescue craft. She watched as the trees below zipped

by, partly wondering if she should put her feet inside so she wouldn't fall

out, and partly wanting to see the scenery.

She shivered a little. It was cold that morning. There was still

frost on the trees from the night before.

"Candace, look there! At the horizon!"

Candace looked to where Xosizi had pointed. She saw what looked like

a large village, with a random smattering of buildings made from mud, straw,

wood and animal skins.

"That's Kilisyth, the governing village for this region!"

"It looks like a bad attempt at a mud pie!" Candace replied.

Xosizi shrugged, "Maybe it is," he said, "Look beyond it, at the top

of that hill!"

Candace turned and looked where he was pointing. At the top of a

particularly high hill was a large tent that looked a lot like an old Sioux

tipi.

"What? The big tent?" she asked.

"That's it! Once we drop Pexwrith off at the hospital, we're going to

hike up to that tent, and that is where you will be initiated."

Candace's stomach did a somersault upon realizing how close she was to

undergoing the Alion initiation ceremonies. From what she'd heard, it wasn't

painful or freaky or anything, but she still had some reservations.

Soon they had landed, dropped off Pexwrith, and were headed up the

hillside. It was a bit less rocky than the trail had been, which was good,

since this path went uphill. Candace didn't care for anything that made the

hike harder. After about an hour they reached the hilltop and the big tent.

"This tent is huge!" Candace exclaimed as she walked up to it's door.

It was. It wasn't quite as big as a circus tent, but two basketball

courts could easily have fit inside.

"This is a small one, actually," Xosizi said nonchalantly, "the one's

in the cities are much bigger, because so many more children go through them."

The two stood outside the door for a bit.

"Well... what now?" Candace asked.

"Let's go inside," Xosizi suggested.

"Makes sense to me," Candace replied. She walked forward, pulled back

the huge tent flap enough for her and Xosizi to step through, then... stepped

through.

Unlike most tents, this one had been partitioned into different rooms.

The one Candace and Xosizi walked into was small and dimly lit by sunlight

filtering through the flap. Behind a small desk, Candace saw an Alion

sitting and reading a piece of what looked like old-style parchment. Candace

noticed that this one looked different than the other ones she had seen. It

didn't have the weird spitter-tube nose, and it only had two mandibles, rather

than three or four. It also had a long... mane, Candace decided. Whatever it

had wasn't hair, but it looked like a sort of reptilian/amphibian equivalent

of hair. The creature was a different color as well. Most of the Alions had

been some shade of dark turqoise, but this one was a deep red, and it's

mane/hair/frill whatever it was was golden yellow. The creature also seemed

slightly thinner and more elegant than the others. It looked up at Candace

and Xosizi as they walked in.

"Hask, Xosizi! Olykth hyat ethik!" it called. Candace was startled

to note that this weird Alion also had an unusually high voice.

"It has been a VERY long time since I've been here, Jizee."

"Keeth yakt?"

"This is Candace of Earth, third planet of the Sol system. We rescued

her from a Tkpxzv war craft the other day. She's tagged along ever since.

She's still young, and since we are unable to return her to Earth, I have

brought her here to be initiated."

"Aaakkk... Trag," the Alion reached under its desk and grabbed

something that was clearly a helmet. It had a large box attached to the top

and a button on the front. The Alion walked over to Candace and held the

helmet out for her.

"Candace...?" it asked her.

"Uhh..." Candace replied. She reached out and took the helmet. She

looked to Xosizi.

"Does Jizee want me to put this on?" she asked.

"Trag," Xosizi replied.

"Should I?" Candace asked.

"It'll make your life a lot easier."

"What do you mean?"

"Put it on and you'll find out... but take the headset off first,

that'll get in the way."

Candace eyed Xosizi and the helmet suspiciously, deciding whether or

not to trust them. After a moment's hesitation, she pulled off her headset,

and jammed the helmet onto her head.

It immediately felt like her head was blowing up like a balloon. She

panicked as she felt her head expand at an alarming rate. She started to

scream until she grabbed her face and realized that it wasn't actually getting

bigger. She stood there for a moment in confusion until the feeling stopped.

Then she quickly pulled the helmet off and handed it back to Jizee.

"Yixithwath higith, akk Candace?" Xosizi asked amusedly.

Candace blinked. Suddenly the helmet didn't seem that weird to her.

No, what had just happened was much weirder.

Candace had understood everything Xosizi had said to her.

It got even weirder when she heard herself reply to him.

"Trag, jixith yixihwath," Candace replied, confused.

Xosizi grinned, "That was a language fluency helmet. It instantly

stuffs the knowledge of the Alion language into its wearer's head. We won't

be needing those headphones any more."

"Wish I'd had one of those in Spanish class..." Candace groaned... in

Alion.

"Candace of Earth, allow me to introduce myself. I am Jizee, the

Secretary of the Initates. I make sure the name and information of each

initiate is recorded, and, in the case of foreigners, I ensure that they know

the Alion tongue," Jizee explained.

"Okay..." Candace responded, "Not to be rude or anything, but you

look way different than the other Alions that I've seen."

"Jizee's a girl. That's why she looks different," Xosizi said flatly.

"Oh. How come I didn't see any earlier?"

Xosizi shrugged, "I don't know. You just happened to run into a long

train of males, I guess. There were some in the army back on Trisaria, but

you probably weren't close enough to see them."

"Hm. Well, when does this thing start?" Candace asked.

"In a few moments," Jizee answered, "Follow me."

Candace's stomach started doing somesaults as she and Xosizi followed

Jizee into the next room. This room was larger. It had no furniture, just

the cold ground. Candace was surprised to see a Candasaurus sitting in the

room as she entered. It looked up as they walked in.

"Is it starting, Jizee?" the Candasaur asked excitedly.

"Soon, kid, soon," she assured.

"That's what you said-holy guacamole! Is that who I think it is?"

Candace didn't need to be told that the Candasaur was referring to

her.

"Yes, it's me, Candace, in the flesh," Candace replied.

"Cool! What're you doing-? Oh, that's right, the battle..."

"News spreads fast, it looks like..." Candace muttered.

"So you've decided to join the Alions then?"

"Yep."

"I see..."

Jizee cut in, "Candace, this is your co-initiate, who also happens to

have the same name you do."

"Your name is Candace too?" Candace asked the Candasaur.

"It's a very common Candasaur name," Candace replied.

"Get to know it each other. Co-initiates usually become battle

brothers, or in your case battle-SISTERS after they finish initiation. You're

about on the same level as warriors, so you'll be fighting alongside one

another after you leave," Xosizi said.

"Trag," Jizee agreed, "Now if you'll excuse me and Xosizi, we have

some red tape to clear before the initiation starts. As soon as that's done,

the ceremony will start, okay?"

"Okay!" Candace the Candasaur responded.

"Well... okay!" Candace replied, snapping her fingers as she did. She

giggled a bit after she said it, knowing that she was the only person in to

room who would get that joke.

Jizee and Xosizi left the room, and Candace sat down next to Candace.

That's gonna get really weird to write.

"So, Candace, how'd you wind up on Tizilidai?" Candace of Earth asked.

"A couple months after I was born, on Trisaria, by the way, Tizilidai

was attacked by the Tkpxzv. The Alions defeated the Tkpxzv and chased them

back out of the system. Back then, the Tkpxzv hadn't discovered us yet, but

Mom and Dad knew that it was only a matter of time before the Candasaurs were

discovered, and, since they had no military, they knew that when that

happened, Trisaria would either be destroyed or enslaved. So they moved here

because they knew the Alions could protect them," Candace the Candasaur

replied.

"So... you've basically grown up like an Alion?"

"Well... yeah, pretty much. Mom and Dad taught me to be a Candasaur,

but even they were kind of different. The fact that they came here is a

testament to that."

"Huh... hey, do you know anything about what happens at this

initiation? I've heard a lot of conflicting stories..."

"Nope. That's half the fun! I have no idea what horrors await me

when this thing starts."

Candace of Earth gulped. That wasn't what she'd wanted to hear.

"Enough about me," Candace the Candasaur said, "Let's hear something

about you. Are you really a 'thunder goddess'?"

"Psh... nah, I just got stuck by lightning while I was holding the

cord to a time machine."

Candace the Candasaur laughed. "I've always wondered about that

story. I believed it might have happened, but I wondered if it hadn't just

been someone, well, getting struck by lightning."

Candace of Earth smirked, "Kind of got blown out of proportion, huh?"

"WAY out of proportion, no offense."

"None taken."

"So... who are you really?"

"I'd like to tell you that I'm the great and mighty ruler of Earth, or

that I'm some kind of fabulous celebrity... and there would be some truth to

that actually... I am the queen of Mars, and I was awfully popular on

Trisaria..."

Candace the Candasaur's eyes narrowed. "You're a queen?"

"Technically... yes. But, I have to be honest. I'm just some random

Earth girl who happens to have seen a lot of crazy things... mostly because of

Phineas and Ferb."

"Who're they?"

"My little brothers, they're like, geniuses. They do all these wild

things every day and drive me nuts, things like building a portal to Mars, or

taking a time machine back to dinosaur times-"

"Are they the two little people from the story?"

"Yep. That's them."

"So they're the REAL stars of the show, then."

Candace was a little burned by the comment, "Well, yeah, but they've

needed MY help a lot of times. I mean, I've done some pretty cool things

too."

Candace the Candasaur wasn't convinced. She just gave Candace an

unbelieving stare.

Candace of Earth sighed, "All right, so I'm NOT the star of the show.

Big deal. I'm-"

"It's okay if you're a normal person, Candace. No one thinks any less

of you for it."

"I HAVE done some cool things though."

"But you weren't the instigator, you were just along for the ride."

"Yes," Candace groaned irritably.

"You seem like the kind of person who's self-esteem depends on what

other people think of you."

"Well... okay, yeah... it's true..." Candace said miserably.

"You're a very proud person, Candace, do you recognize that?"

"Can we talk about something else?"

"No, there's something you need to know..."

"What if I don't want to know it?"

"You want to know it, trust me."

"Well, what is it?"

"There's an old Alion proverb that goes something like this: A hero is

carried upon the shoulders of her brothers, but a true hero stands on her own

feet."

"So... I need my own train of cool experiences, not ones from my

brothers?"

"Not exactly..."

"Young ones! Welcome to your initiation!"

Candace and Candace looked toward the front of the room. An old Alion

had come in through the divider. He was green.

"Think about the difference between the two," Candace the Candasaur

whispered quickly.

"I think this is the first green Alion I've seen," Candace whispered

back.

Candace the Candasaur face palmed as the green Alion began to speak.

"Before we start, let me learn the names of our brave new warriors!"

he pointed at Candace, "You are a race I have never seen before! What is your

name?"

"Candace," Candace of Earth replied.

The green guy scratched his chin a bit, as if thinking. Suddenly, his

stalk eyes brightened with recognition.

"The Red and White Thunder Goddess of the Candasaurs!" he exclaimed,

"I heard that you had appeared, but I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Xosizi brought me."

"Ah... I see. I remember when he came through here, all those years

ago... he was my friend and co-initiate. One of the greatest Alions who ever

lived, in my opinion."

Candace didn't reply. She just waited for the Alion to say something

else.

"Well, Candace, welcome!" He turned to the Candasaur, "And who are

you?"

"My name happens to be Candace as well. My parents moved here long

ago for protection from the Tkpxzv."

"I see, so you're one of the 'Candasaur warriors' that came to

Tizilidai."

"Yep."

"Glad to meet you. So, before we begin, you may have heard some...

RUMORS about the initiation."

The Candaces nodded in agreement.

"Let me assure you, nothing bad will happen to you during initiation."

"Whew!" Candace of Earth said with relief.

"Aww..." Candace of Tizilidai whined.

"To begin, I will teach you some Alion folklore, after which you will

have some choices to make about your future..."

"Like what?" Candace the Candasaur asked.

"Specifically, you will tell us what weapon you would like to

specialize in, which occupation you would like to fill, who you would like to

train you and what kind of spirit you believe you are."

"And what's after that?" Candace of Earth inquired.

"Your prophecies. You will tell the heavens what you would like to

do, and then the heavens will give you any further information you need about

your choices, and also help you learn how to fulfill your destiny. Remember

that all have a mission to accomplish in this life, and that what you do here

will determine who you are in the eternal worlds."

"We all have a picture to draw..." Candace of Earth muttered.

"What?" Candace of Tizilidai asked.

"Any other questions?" asked the green Alion.

Silence.

"All right, then! Let's learn some folklore, shall we?"

The green Alion (who the Candaces learned was one of the Tribal

Elders), spoke for hours, telling them stories of great Alion heroes and the

lessons they taught. He spoke of conquerors and cowards, legends and facts,

weaving them all into the rich tapestry that was the Alion warrior culture.

To recount everything he said could be a book in and of itself, but two

stories seemed to stand above the rest. One was about an Alion explorer who

sounded like the Alion equivalent of a caveman. He was the first Alion to

think of more than simply killing and eating. He flew over a mountain, simply

to see what was on the other side (the Alions had wings, recall), and

discovered another band of his people. After that his curiosity led him to

learn new things like how to make fire, or how to build shelters and even to

invent a language. He was considered the founder of all Alion civilization.

His courage, creativity and wonder had brought a warrior's wisdom to his

people, who otherwise would have been mere animals. He was what made the

Alions warriors instead of predators.

The other story was about a city rather than a specific Alion. At one

time, all of Tizilidai was ruled by a collection of oppressive theocracies.

There was, however, one free city, ruled by a just and fair council of Elders

who adhered to the old warrior traditions. The city was the only substantial

group of Alions left who had not abandoned their old heritage for false faith

and fanaticism. Not that they weren't religious, heaven forbid, but they were

the last who followed the true religion, and who allowed others to believe and

be who they chose.

This city was harassed on all sides by the rest of the planet. The

wicked leaders of these false theocracies knew that they had merely to

overcome this city to enslave all the world and bring it under their control.

The great warriors of this city, however, through their fervent labor,

rock-solid determination, and undying love of liberty, managed to repulse

their enemies. They then took the fight to their enemies, meeting their lies

and tyranny with the Sword of Justice, and cleansing their evil from the

world. It was because of the firmness and sheer will of these few warriors in

defending their liberty and destroying evil that Tizilidai was a free world

with a warrior culture today, rather than a cruel (and false) theocracy.

These legends and others showed the great virtues of the warrior:

Will, wisdom, justice, courage, strength, liberty and faith. These values had

to be internalized for them (Candace and Candace) to become true warriors.

The Elder spoke for so long that they had had to stop a various points

to get up and stretch, as well as eat. By the time he had finally finished,

it was dark, and electric lights now lit the tent (the Elder told them that they

had used torches in the past, until one of them had burned the tent down.)

"And that, brave youths, is the heritage of the Alions, my heritage,

and your heritage. Treasure these stories in your heart, and remember what

they say," the Elder concluded.

Normally Candace would have hated enduring the kind of thing she just had...

but she had gotten sucked into it, much like when she had read

those Sherlock Holmes books earlier in the Summer. So, in spite of how tired

she was, she had enjoyed the many stories of the Alions.

Candace of Tizilidai had heard parts of these stories already, but the

fact that she'd waited most of her life to hear their full versions had

ensured that the Elder had her rapt interest, though she'd nodded off a few

times in the last hours.

"Those are some great stories," Candace the Candasaur observed.

"And really, really long," Candace of Earth groaned.

"Don't forget them," the Elder warned, "Now, let us move to the next

room, where you will make the choices I spoke of earlier."

He turned and walked through the divider, beckoning to the two

initiates as he went. Candace and Candasaurus followed him.

The next room was large, round, and had a high ceiling with an opening

at the top. In the center was a fire ring, and all around sat about twenty

old Alions, as well as Xosizi, the secretary, and couple of Candasaurs.

"Candace, how was the folklore?" the Candasaurs asked.

Candace of Earth almost replied before she realized that they were

speaking to Candace the Candasaurus.

"Long... but I learned a lot," she replied.

"Who're they?" Candace of Earth asked Candace of Tizilidai.

"My parents."

"Oh."

"Candace! Can you still feel your legs?" Candace of Earth heard

Xosizi call.

Candace grinned, "They fell asleep after the first three hours."

"Told you the initiation was horrible. Come sit down!"

"Again?"

"Trag."

Candace's legs really were tired of sitting, but she did as she was

told. Candace the Candasaur also went and sat with her parents. As they sat

down, meat was passed around the circle. Dinner.

There was all sorts of random conversation as everyone began eating.

Candace looked around, wondering why there were so many Alions there.

"Xosizi," she asked, after gulping down some meat, "Who are all these

guys?"

"The Tribal Council. After dinner you're going to stand in front of

them and tell them what you want to be, what weapon you want to use, what

spirit you think you are-"

"So this is that choosing part the green dude was talking about."

"Trag."

"Cool."

"Any idea what weapon you want? I think the other things have more or

less been determined, though you can express other preferences if you wish...

except you'd better pick me as your trainer," Xosizi growled.

Candace smiled as she thought, "Um... well... I'm pretty good with a

gun..."

"Trag, and for that reason I believe you should choose a hand-to-hand

weapon."

"I should pick a weapon I'm WORSE with?"

"Trag. You can already fight at a distance. Now you need to learn to

fight in close quarters, though you can at least hold your own there as well."

"Maybe I should use a knife..." Candace said, recalling the fight the

previous night.

"Perhaps... just think about what you would like. You could even

craft a unique weapon for yourself, if you want."

The two continued talking until dinner ended. When it did, an Alion

Elder walked to the center of the ring and announced that it was time for the

Choosing. He called Candace the Candasaur up first. She left her parents and

walked over to the Elder.

"Young Candasaurus," the Elder began, tonight you will make some

choices that will affect your destiny, "Are you prepared to make these

decisions?"

"Trag," the Candasaur affirmed.

"Good. First, what occupation do you want?"

"Explorer," she said simply.

"You wish to Captain a lone ship and scout the universe?"

"Trag."

"Mmmm... good choice. A most enjoyable, if lonely, career. You will

learn much as an Explorer."

"I should hope so."

"Next... who would you like as your trainer?"

"Hikxat, from Yirank village to the south."

"Okay, he will be notified. Which weapon do you choose?"

"Combination energy/grenade cannon."

"Interesting... and last... what spirit do you feel you are?"

"Star spirit."

"All right then. When you receive your prophecy, these things will be

considered by the heavens, and modified if necessary for you to fulfill your

destiny. Remember that they know more than we."

"Sure."

"Thank you, you may sit down."

Candace the Candasaur sat down. Candace of Earth's stomach bubbled

unpleasantly. She was next.

"Candace of Earth, come forth!"

Candace stood and walked to the Elder. She looked about nervously at

all the eyes staring at her.

The Elder spoke, getting her attention, "Are you prepared to make the

decisions your co-initiate just did?"

"Um... I think so," Candace said nervously.

"Good. What do you want for your occupation?"

Candace didn't answer right away. Xosizi looked at her curiously, his

face saying, "Musician! Just spit it out!"

Candace liked the idea of being a musician, but a part of her, for

some strange reason, wanted something else. Maybe it was because she wanted

to turn over a new leaf, maybe it was destiny, like they were saying, maybe

she'd just been impressed by Xosizi's story, but...

"Warrior," she heard herself say.

The entire circle gasped. Xosizi's mandibles dropped as his eyes

widened with shock. The only person who didn't seem stunned by her response

was the Elder, who was chuckling softly.

"My good people," he laughed, "She's confused, she doesn't mean what

you think she does! She's very new here, she probably thinks that's everyone's

job, which it sort of is, I guess."

Everyone sighed in relief... except Xosizi. He gave Candace a hard

stare. He was the only one who knew that Candace understood what she had just

said.

"My dear, you will be trained as a warrior. All Alions are. We mean

your SECONDARY occupation, what would you like that to be?"

Candace gulped, gritted her teeth, then spoke, "I knew what I was

saying. I want to be a warrior. A Guard of Death and Life."

This time the Elder got it. His eyes bugged and HE gasped.

"Child, are you sure? You know not what you ask!"

Candace nodded, "I know I don't know what I'm getting myself into,

but, honestly, nothing else it left for me. Defeating the Tkpxzv is my only

hope of returning to Earth and seeing my family again."

"Five years of hell, child, and then a life of nothing but bloodshed!

Is that really what you want?"

Candace thought a moment. Five years was a long time.

"Trag," she affirmed again. She glanced over at Xosizi. He looked

surprised and sad, but also proud and approving.

"I take it you will want Xosizi as your trainer, then?" the Elder

asked.

"Trag."

"He is one of the greatest Guards of Death and Life there ever were.

You will be a great warrior, maybe one of the greatest, if you listen to him,"

the Alion put a claw on her shoulder, "And maybe, if you endure, you WILL see

your family and your home again."

He removed his hand from her shoulder, "As a Guard of Death and Life,

you'll be excellent with pretty much any weapon you get your hands on,

nevertheless, which one would you like to specialize in?"

"Alion Standard Rifle," Candace replied.

Xosizi cocked his head at her. She'd ignored his council.. but it was

making the whole process more interesting.

"Pardon my asking, but... why such a common weapon?"

"I'm a good shot, but if I'd been better, I would have hit that Scare

Cannon my brother made sooner, and probably saved Candasaurus city. He might

have still been alive, too."

"I see... and what sort of Spirit do you believe you are?"

Xosizi stared at Candace, seemingly wondering if she would choose

Fire, or if she would again deviate.

She thought a bit, "Fire," she finally said.

"All right then. Like I said earlier, these choices will be given to

the heavens and they will modify them as needed. They know more than we do."

"Yeah."

"Thank you Candace. Xosizi, you have a most interesting trainee

here... take good care of her. She might be almost as good as you, one day."

Xosizi grinned at the compliment, "Maybe..." he replied.

The Elder smiled and turned to the circle. "Initiates! Now you move

on to the prophecy! There you will learn about your destinies! Head through

that flap there, and you will begin!" He was pointing to Candace's left.

The initiates walked over to the flap. Candace the Candasaur's

parents followed her, and Xosizi followed Candace of Earth. The Secretary

followed as well. All went through to begin the next ceremony.

It turned out that the next room was not a room at all, but led

outside. An ancient-looking Alion stood, staring at Tizilidai's full moon,

and at the stars. He was standing on the edge of a cliff that overlooked the

town and the valley. Candace could see mountains outlined in black by the

moonlight.

Candace took in the dark yet glorious view before her. A cool, gentle

breeze played with her hair.

There was silence for nearly a minute. The ancient Alion didn't

acknowledge them. Candace sighed peacefully. She felt good up here.

Something about the area seemed comforting and familiar.

"Vodkrath, the initiates are here," the secretary said quietly.

He turned about calmly. He said nothing, but pointed at Candace the

Candasaur first. The secretary motioned for her to step forward. The

Candasaurus approached the old Alion warily, stopping in front of him.

At first the old Alion just stared into her eyes, then he wrapped his

arm around her and led her to the cliff.

"Look into the sky," he said softly. He had a slight rasp in his

voice.

"Okay..." Candace the Candasaur replied.

"What do you see?"

"Stars... and the moon."

"Long has your heart longed to see them, Candace, and now tonight, you

must rejoice, for the heavens have planted this desire in your heart, and they

will grant it unto you. Your home shall be among the stars, your friends,

those who you meet, your enemies, those who oppress the weak and enslave

others. Your home will strengthen you, your friends will support you, and your

foes shall be as dust before the wind's blast, for you are a spirit of the

wind, and not of the stars, despite your destiny. As the wind, you will be a

wanderer. Like the wind, you will be strong. You will travel the universe, a

vagabond, a legend, and most of all, a hero, for you will save all this

galaxy from the greatest evil it has ever known. Not the Tkpxzv, though you

will fight against them as well, but an evil far greater, and a race far

crueller."

Candace of Earth could see the wonder in the Candasaur's eyes as she

received this message. The heavens apparently had granted her her dreams.

"Trust yourself always, and don't be a fool. You must be wise, or you

will die. The universe is dangerous, and your foes are powerful, but if you

do all you can, the heavens will grant you the skill, courage and strength to

overcome all things."

He stopped and became quiet, bowing his head. He didn't say anything

for nearly a minute. Candace the Candasaur seemed to figure that he was done,

and began to walk away. As she did, the Alion grabbed her arm.

"Candace, not you, but Candace Flynn, will need you."

Candace of Earth looked up in surprise. Candace the Candasaur looked

back at the Alion.

"Xosizi is her father, and YOU are her mother. Candace will be your daughter,

though she has biological parents. She will need you as much as she will need Xosizi.

Stand with her against all things, and treat her as your friend, not your subject."

Now Xosizi was alerted too. This had to be weird for him.

"Teach her the ways of the Musician, for she must know them as well

as the ways of the Alions to fulfill her destiny."

"Who is Candace Flynn, exactly?" Candace the Candasaur asked, "I know

a Candace of Earth, but..."

"It's me," Candace of Earth said quietly, "My last name is Flynn."

Candace looked surprised, "Really? Weird..."

"Listen carefully to her prophecy as well, for you need to be familiar

with it to help her," the Alion continued, "Follow your conscience, Candace,

be just and kind all your days, and the heavens will always be with you,

wherever you are in the great, starry sky. Wanderer, Mother, and Hero, the

heavens grant you these great blessings, and seal them upon you as long as you

follow the righteous desires of your heart. Godspeed."

And that was it. Candace returned to the group.

"Candace Flynn, come forward," the Alion commanded.

"Are you a priest or something?" Candace asked as she walked forward.

"I guess I never introduced myself, did I? I am a priest, yes. I

prophesy destinies, according to the words of the heavens."

"Great. Just wanted to clear that up."

"Several weeks ago, Candace, you saw a wraith in a dream. She scared

you, didn't she?"

"How do you know that?" Candace asked in shock.

"And you have great reason to fear, for you are a fairly ordinary

person fighting one of the greatest spirits the heavens have ever created."

"What?"

"He lives, Candace. And he is hunting you. He will do everything in

his power to destroy you and to destroy the people you care about. He has

already snatched your family from your grasp, he has enslaved the people you

were sent to protect, and driven you to the last bastion of hope this part of

the galaxy has. He hates you. His wrath knows no bounds. And in four days,

according to the time of world upon which you now stand, he will be upon you."

"Who are you talking about, Phineas?"

"With him come hosts in number like the stars of the heavens. Blood,

fire, death and destruction will they visit upon this world. The strong race

that has withstood them for so long will fall before them, and before your

brother, for their hearts will melt and their courage will turn to water

because of your brother and the armies he commands."

EVERYONE was paying attention now. Alions from the fire ring were

poking their heads out to listen.

"Your family put their faith in you, you saved them, but then lost

yourself. Trisaria put its faith in you, and you failed them. Your brother

has defeated you, and he has vanquished you time and again."

Candace was scared now. Everyone was scared. Even Xosizi looked

nervous.

"Even before he became your enemy, you could not defeat him. You have

lived in his shadow all of his life."

Candace shifted uncomfortably. The Alion turned to her, grabbed her

shoulders and pulled her, nose to nose, with him.

"This is your last stand, Candace Flynn," he said gravely, "If you

fall here, there is no where left for you to retreat. What's more, this world

will fall, and its inhabitants will all die, for none of them will bow to

slavery. If you are lucky, you will die with them, if you are not, your

brother will capture you, and you will live out your days in slavery and

misery, and he will stand victorious over all this galactic arm. Except him,

you won't see your family again, you won't see Earth again, you won't see the

Candasaurs again, and the Alions will all be rotting in Tizilidai's dirt."

"Well... w-what am I supposed to d-d-do?" Candace asked shakily.

"Defeat him, Candace."

"Who?"

"Phineas. Defeat him. For all you have to fear, you have one thing

to hope in."

"What's that?"

"That there is only one person in this universe that could ever defeat

your brother, and I don't mean Ferb, either. The one person who can beat him

is you. He knows that. He recognizes that you are the one thing standing

between him and absolute power-the only thing that CAN stand between him and

absolute power."

"I d-don't know if I-"

"You love him. It makes you hesitant to fight him. This is

commendable. However, if you truly love him, you must defeat him."

"What?"

"Brush aside your fears, Candace, and become the wraith from your

dream. Phineas knows that a powerful being lurks within you. You must learn this

too, else he will destroy all that you love, including himself. Not with a physical

destruction, but a destruction of the wonderful spirit that he possesses."

"Okay..."

"Millions depend on you Candace, but one person depends on you more

than anyone else, and that person is Phineas. He needs you now more than

ever. You must save him, and you can only do that by throwing down his power

and his pride, and by ruining the justification for his hate. You must prove

to him that you are the great older sister he thought you were. Show him that

your courage, your might, your will and ultimately, your love, are stronger

than his fear, his power, his will and his hate. Only then will he be humbled

and repent. Only by this, will you be able to save him."

Everyone was silent. This prophecy was as terrifying as it was

powerful.

"This prophecy is not for your entire life, Candace. Only for this

experience, but the things you learn here, and the things you do, will affect

you always, for good or ill. You will be trained by both Xosizi and Candace,

your fellow initiate. Xosizi will teach you to be a warrior as well as he can

in the short time you have. Candace will teach you to be a musician, for you must

know that trade as well to succeed."

Candace listened carefully, realizing this was a matter of life and

death.

"Here on Tizilidai, when all hope has died, use the weapon Candace

gives you while standing on this cliff. If you succeed, then advance against

Phineas, and save your people from him. There on Trisaria, when all hope has

died, use the weapon that the heavens give you. If you succeed, then take the

fight to Phineas. There near Sirius, when all hope has died, use the weapon

that Xosizi gives you. If you succeed, you may do what you wish. But there,

in the jaws of hell, when all of Phineas' hope has died... use the weapon that

you possess, independent and mightier than all the others. Only then,

Candace, will you be able to draw your picture, and only then can you save

Phineas."

Candace stared at the Alion, trying to remember everything he'd said.

"Some last remarks. Your weapon of specialty will be the steel

swordspear, not the rifle. Your skill in that weapon is sufficient, and also

much less vital for your mission. You also are a lightning spirit, not a fire

spirit. If you succeed you will find out why. Also, in your darkest, and,

more specifically, your LONLIEST hour, remember what Candace said to you just

before you began learning folklore. Your life depends on those critical

words. And last of all, fear not, but be brave, in spite of everything, for

the heavens are with you, and you can indeed win, if you will let yourself.

And if you succeed, you will save these worlds, see you family again, and even

better, you will reunite them, and heal them. Your destiny is great either

way, either you will fail utterly, or you will succeed wonderfully. Be

strong, Candace, and never give up. Farewell."


	3. Chapter 3: Infiltrator

RANDOM AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is totally unimportant, and you can disregard

it if you want, but this is my favorite chapter in the whole _Picture_ series. One,

because it's about Stacy and she's a character who I think deserves a lot

more attention than she gets, and two... heh heh... just keep in mind that I'm

a rather juvenile-minded member of the male race. Ah, the glories of past

years... when I was like, ten...

Chapter 3: Infiltrator

It was getting dark. Stacy and the Candasaurus had snuck halfway

across the city using back routes, sewer tunnels and basically any cover they

could find to avoid the Tkpxzv guards that patrolled the streets. They now

peeked out of an alleyway near the center of the city.

Stacy saw a large, square, concrete building with barred windows. It

was surrounded by high, metal walls covered in razor-sharp pickets. A heavy

iron gate barred the entrance, and was guarded by four Tkpxzv armed with...

some kind of rod things as well as some kind of body armor.

"What's this place?" Stacy asked the Candasaur.

"The Candy Bar prison, but don't let the name fool you, 'cause this

place ain't so sweet. This is a high-security jail for hardened criminals."

"So why are we here?"

"When the Tkpxzv conquered the planet, they took our president and her

father and threw them in jail here."

"Okay, so what does this have to do with finding Candace?"

"Candace spoke to them before heading off to battle. They might know

what happened to her, or, at least, they might be able to give you some

clues."

"So... how do we get in?"

"First off, it's YOU that's going in, not me. You asked if I knew

somebody that might be able to find Candace, and I've brought you as close as

I can. Now you have to find a way into the prison to get the information."

Stacy groaned. Candace was gonna owe her big time, "Do you know any

way in?"

The Candasaur glanced over at a sewer lid. Stacy followed his gaze

and groaned again.

Soon Stacy was down in the CandasaurusCity sewers. The stench of

Candasaur waste choked the humid underground air as Stacy walked along one of

the sewer's service routes, nose plugged. She looked off the sidewalk and at

the river of sewage next to her.

She was trying hard not to barf.

She turned her eyes back to the trail and saw a sign that said:

- CANDY BAR PRISON SEWAGE PIPE

Stacy took a left at the next intersection. In spite of herself,

Stacy still managed to wonder why it was that the Candasaurs spoke English.

It wasn't long before the walkway ended and Stacy came face to face with a

huge, cave-like pipe that went for a few feet then began ascending to... Candy

Bar Prison's Toilets, she guessed.

Stacy took a careful step off the side walk and in to the pipe. She

tried hard to cling to side of the pipe (it had grooves in it, thank goodness)

to avoid sliding into the smelly toxic sludge flowing peacefully at the

bottom. She had managed to get about five steps in when it happened.

She stumbled and her foot slipped into the sewage.

Stacy let out a howl of mortal grossified agony as she pulled her

feces-engorged shoe from the muck, which made a wonderful sucking noise as she

did.

"EEWWWW!" Stacy yelled. She began cursing fearfully as she

continued edging down the wall.

Sadly, her troubles weren't over.

As she continued down the pipe, a rat, yes, on this alien planet, a

rat, scuttled across her feet.

Stacy shrieked and jumped about a foot in the air, lost her balance

and went tumbling into the unholy river below.

Need I say more?

Her reaction was quite predictable. I mean, at least her FACE didn't

land in the chunky water, though her hands had had to reach down to catch her,

so they did. Her skirt was probably permanently ruined (that smell doesn't

come out too easily), and her... I'll just get to the point.

The entire sewer shook with an almighty girl screech, followed by a

lot of choice words that no decent author would ever dare write. Stacy's

horrified tirade lasted for a full minute before she finally got up and began

walking down the pipe again. She continued cursing under her breath as she

trudged up the vile river of biological waste. She didn't even try to stay

out of the sewage anymore (she was already covered in it, so why bother?)

She began to see other large pipes feeding down off the sides into the one she

was in.

She continued up the big pipe until it ended in a big concrete wall.

On both sides of her were some of the smaller pipes. She climbed into one of

those. This one was narrower-she had to get down on all fours-in the sludge.

She squealed couple more times as rats and unpleasant bugs of various kinds

crawled across her fingers.

She eventually came across some even smaller pipes. She could barely

squeeze into these ones. She had to get on her belly to continue on. She

slowly snaked her way up the thing. She was really hoping she'd be able to

get back out. She could have sworn the pipe was getting narrower as she

continued slithering along. Claustrophobia was setting in...

After ten minutes of worming through the tiny pipe, Stacy decided she

needed to turn back before she got trapped. She tried to slither backward.

It didn't work.

Panic gripped Stacy. She was stuck. Trapped. In the dark. Alone.

She began writhing frantically, trying to force herself backward, but to no

avail.

She couldn't take it anymore. Stacy screamed for help. She couldn't

breathe. She wriggled and cried and struggled and panted, all in vain.

After panicking for a long time, Stacy realized that she hadn't

suffocated yet, and she slowly settled into an uneasy calm. She steadied

herself and decided her only option was to keep slithering forward. She did

so, writhing on and on for what seemed like an eternity. She continued until

the pipe became to narrow.

Now she was REALLY stuck. She couldn't go back, she couldn't go on,

and she couldn't go sideways. And it was pitch black. Stacy began to panic

again, but the panic was quickly overcome by resignation.

"I'm dead," Stacy groaned, "I'm gonna die down here, all alone, in an

alien sewer. That's great. Just great. I wonder if anyone will ever find my

body. Or my skeleton. That's probably all that'll be left. Man, what a

rotten way to-"

FLUSH.

Stacy her a familiar sound. A toilet flushing. It sounded like it

was coming from above her. She heard the sound of water rushing. It got

closer until...

She got a faceful of it. A mouthful too. Stacy gagged as a chunky

splash of toilet water came plunging down a small side pipe in front of and

above her. She hadn't been able to see the pipe (or anything else, for that

matter, because of how dark it was.

Once she'd coughed the foul-tasting muck out of her mouth, Stacy

noticed a faint light coming from the newfound pipe in front of her.

"Someone didn't put the lid down," Stacy blubbered miserably.

An sudden idea came to her. Among the weapons she'd brought with her

was an old walking stick she used on nature hikes with Jenny. With a great

effort, she managed to pull it from her back. She carefully forced the stick

up the pipe, somehow not breaking it. As she fed it up the pipe, she prayed

it would be long enough...

It was. She felt the stick hit the U-bend in the toilet. She began

hitting the toilet frantically, trying to make enough noise to get the

attention of... whoever was up there.

She did it for a long time. She hit the toilet harder and harder and

harder, but her cry went unheeded.

"HELLLPPPP!" she screamed. She tried and tried, but no one seemed

to hear her.

"Of all the ways I could've died, why this? I'm going to suffocate

down in a toilet pipe! C'mon! Somebody! ANYBODY! HELP!"

She dinged and dinged for several more minutes. She was about to give

up when she heard a voice overhead.

"Ugh... I hate it when they don't wipe off the seat."

Stacy dinged and screamed madly. Trying to get the voice's

attention. She heard someone sit down on the toilet, followed by an, "Ahh..."

She screwed up her face in disgust and hit (and screamed) harder, trying to

get the voice's attention now not only to avoid death, but also to avoid

getting flushed again.

She heard the voice mumbling to himself. She wished he would shut up.

How was he supposed to hear her if he was talking to himself?

Suddenly, the talking stopped. Stacy kept screaming and dinging.

"What's that?" the voice wondered.

Yes! He heard her!

"Where's that coming from?" she heard some footsteps clomping around

the room. She dinged harder.

"It sounds like it's coming from... the toilet?" the voice said

confusedly.

Yes! The toilet! He was looking at it! Stacy slammed the toilet

and screamed harder than ever. She hit the U-bend so hard that it broke the

top of the stick.

"I must be hearing things. I'm going crazy..." the voice said. She

heard footsteps turning to leave.

NO! Come on! Stacy screamed louder than she ever had in her entire

life. She grabbed the stick with both hands and jammed it into the toilet

with all her might, breaking it again-twice this time. Little did Stacy

know, that the pieces of stick were staying partly attached, which was causing

them to worm around the toilet's U-bend.

"There it is again," the voice said, "I don't get it... how could-HOLY

MACKEREL THERE'S A STICK POKING OUT OF MY POO!"

Stacy cheered. She was saved.

"How'd that get in toilet? How's it MOVING?"

"HELP! I'M TRAPPED DOWN IN THE PIPE!" Stacy screeched.

"What?"

"I'M-TRAPPED-IN-THE-PIPE!"

"You're trapped in the pipe?"

"Yes!"

"How is that even possible?"

"Never mind, just get me outta here!"

"Uh... okay, hang on, I guess..." Stacy heard a bunch of footsteps,

then some fast-paced stomps followed by a resounding BANG and the sound of

glass shattering. The light in front of her suddenly got very bright.

"I'm okay! Are you still there?" the voice called. It was much

louder now.

"I can't go anywhere else!" Stacy replied.

"Where are you?"

Stacy wiggled her stick in response.

"How on Trisaria did you get down there?"

"I'll tell you later, just get me out!"

"Open up in there! What's going on?" Stacy heard a distant voice

shout.

"I can't, I'm on the toilet!" the first voice yelled back.

"What was that noise?" the distant voice roared.

"It was a present I brought for my sister! I slipped on the toilet

water and dropped it and now it's shattered all over. If you people would

just keep these bathrooms clean..."

"A likely story, open up!"

"I'm on the pot, you idiot, I can't!"

"Someone go get the key, this guy's up to no good..." the distant

voice said.

"What's going on?" Stacy asked.

"Can't tell you now, gotta move fast! Let's see here..." Stacy heard

something tearing into the upper pipe, followed by a metallic ripping noise

and then a clatter as the pipe was thrown across the room.

"What're you-AH!" Stacy was cut off when eight sharp claws tore into

the pipe above her. They tore the metal sheet off of the top of her head,

exposing it to the light. Stacy quickly scrambled forward and forced herself

through the opening. She stood and looked up. Above her was the top of a

hole, where she assumed to toilet had been, and also the face of a Candasaur,

who was reaching his claw down to her.

"Grab my hand!" he cried.

Stacy gladly took her rescuer's hand and he pulled her out of the

sewer. Stacy took in a glorious lungful of air as she climbed forth into an

open room filled with beautiful electric light.

"I'M FREE! I'M FREE! I'M FREE!" Stacy cried, "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANK

YOUTHANKYOU!"

She reached out and tried to hug the Candasaur, but he quickly

recoiled from her.

"What's wrong?" Stacy asked.

"You're covered in sewage! Yuck!" he exclaimed.

Stacy looked down at herself and sighed. It had been a long day.

"Where am I?" Stacy wondered, looking around the room. She noticed

a sink, a mirror and what appeared to be a automatic hand dryer. The

shattered remains of the toilet and it's mucky contents lay all over the

floor.

"You're in the men's restroom in the Candy Bar Prison," the Candasaur

informed her, "Who are you?"

They heard a lock click. They both froze.

"Keep them busy!" Stacy whispered quickly. She jumped back into the

hole. She heard the door open and some plug-sounding footsteps plop in.

"What the-!" she heard a gruff voice roar, "What's in blazes have you

been doing in here?"

"I, uh, heard a voice in the toilet?" the Candasaur replied meekly.

"And I just heard me telling you that you're under arrest for

destroying prison property!"

"No, please, I-!"

Stacy heard the 'plop' footsteps moving towards the Candasaur. She

quickly climbed back out of the hole. As she did, she saw the Tkpxzv corner

the cowering Candasaur, his (the Tkpxzv's) back turned to her. She took her

knife out, ran at him and-

Just like before. The Tkpxzv went down, twitched, then died.

"You killed him!" the Candasaur exclaimed.

"Shush! Not so loud!" Stacy whispered frantically. She looked

behind her to see if anyone had heard.

Unfortunately, another Tkpxzv was standing in the door, eyes wide with

shock. It shook itself, then flipped out it's rope arms. Stacy heard an

electric crackle as the thick ropes flew toward her.

She quickly dived behind/under the dead Tkpxzv's corpse. She gasped

in horror as the corpse disintegrated into ash.

"GRKLK! Wrqth!" the living Tkpxzv cried in it's tongue. Stacy

quickly flung her knife at it, hoping to score a hit before it recovered from

the shock of vaporizing its friend.

The big mop recoiled at the hit, but it's fluff deflected most of the

attack. It roared and swung at Stacy, who barely managed to jump the lethal

swipe. She dived into a corner, trying frantically to come up with a plan to

defeat the monster. It raised it's ropes again, preparing for another attack.

It never came. Out of the corner of her eye, Stacy saw the Candasaur

grab her knife and leap at the Tkpxzv, who was so focused on Stacy that it

didn't realize that the Candasaur was coming for it until it was too late.

The Candasaur buried the knife into the Tkpxzv's multiple eyes,

causing it to reach for them with it's ropes, screaming in pain.

Unfortunately for the Tkpxzv, all he did was fry himself and then fall to ash

like his partner.

Stacy stood rigid with shock, breathing heavily, as did the

Candasaur. Miraculously, no other guards had arrived yet, so they got a quick

breather.

"What are you nuts!" the Candasaur yelled, "You're gonna get us

killed! Oh, man I'm in so much trouble! I killed-!"

"Sorry to wreck your day, but I need to find the President, where is

she?" Stacy asked.

"I don't know, why-?" the Candasaur suddenly stopped. His eyes

narrowed. He gazed closely at Stacy's forehead.

"Candace's colors... are you?" he began.

"I'm Stacy Hirano, Candace's best friend. I'm trying to find her."

"You're-!" He stopped as plug-footsteps came plopping toward them.

He beckoned to Stacy, who dashed over to him. The two of them quickly got

behind the open door. Right after, one, two, three Tkpxzv barged into the

room. They began chattering to one another in their all-consonant language.

They spoke frantically and forcefully, seemingly angry about something. As

they examined the mess left behind, Stacy and the Candasaur slipped quietly

around and out the door. Emerging into a hallway, the pair dashed off to the

right, passing several closed doors. Stacy looked about the halls as they

ran. They were made of thick, heavy, unpainted concrete. This jail had not

been made for people to escape. They hung a left and followed that corridor

for about three doors before the Candasaur stopped at one and opened it. He

hurried Stacy inside and shut the door behind him. He quickly switched on

the light, revealing the mops and brooms of a janitor's closet.

"You're Candace's friend?" he whispered sharply.

"Yes, do you know where she is?" Stacy replied.

"I have no idea where she is, but the President might. You're here to

talk to her?"

"Yes."

"And judging by the way you came in, you don't exactly have an

appointment?"

"I'm kind of a fugitive right now. Believe it or not, that guy I

stabbed earlier wasn't the first murder I committed today..."

"The president is on the third floor, maximum security. That floor is

crawling with Tkpxzv, armed with the same weapon you saw earlier."

Stacy gulped.

"Yeah, you're toast if you go up there."

"Well then... how do I get in?"

"You don't have a plan?"

"Well... if there was some sort of diversion..."

Suddenly, the Candasaur's eyes lit up. He grinned, "I know what to

do. Wait here."

The Candasaur opened the door, checked to make sure the coast was

clear, then ran down the hall, closing the door behind him. Stacy waited for

several seconds, wondering what he was up to...

DDDDDDDDRRRRRRR-IIIIIIINNNNGGGG! An alarm bell rang out,

followed by the earsplitting shriek of dozens of smoke detectors.

"FIRE! FIRE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! AAAUUGGHH!" Stacy heard the

Candasaur yell. She heard him come dashing down the hall. He threw the door

open and flung himself back inside. It wasn't long before dozens of footsteps

and a cacophony of panicked voices came blasting by the janitor's closet.

"You pulled the fire alarm?" Stacy cried.

"Yep!" the Candasaur said, grinning.

Stacy tried not to laugh at the childish prank as what sounded like

hundreds of footsteps and their owners' rattled voices came pounding by their

hiding place.

"There's no way the Tkpxzv on the top floor are going to stick around

to guard the stupid prisoners. In fact, they probably won't even take the

prisoners with them," the Candasaur said as more footsteps rushed by.

"They're just going to leave them here to die?"

"Yep, which is exactly what we need. They'll most likely leave the

President unguarded, which will give you a chance to go and talk to her."

"Great! When do we go?"

The Candasaur peeked out the door again. "I think the coast is clear.

Let's get up there before the Tkpxzv realize it was a false alarm!"

Stacy and the Candasaur burst out of the closet and charged down the

hall. The Candasaur led Stacy to a stairwell, which they climbed all the way

to the third floor. They yanked open the door to the floor, ran through, and

nearly crashed into three fleeing Tkpxzv.

The Tkpxzv, Stacy and the Candasaur froze.

"Intruders!" the Tkpxzv exclaimed.

"Get them!" another roared.

They whipped out their ropes, however, as they did, they stopped and

started... it sounded like sniffing.

"You smell that?" one of the Tkpxzv asked.

"Smells like sulfur," another one responded.

"It's the fire! We've gotta get outta here now!" the third one

yelled.

His companions seemed to agree. Stacy and the Candasaur jumped to

the side as the Tkpxzv dashed past them and down the stairs. Stacy looked at

the Candasaur.

"Sulfur?" she asked.

"It's you. All that sewage... I'm guessing somebody wasn't feeling

too well when he... you know..."

Stacy wanted to gag, but there wasn't time, "Do you know which cell

the President's in?"

"No, but I'm sure the inmates do. They dashed down the hall, passing

several heavy steel doors on both sides. Next to each door was a key, hanging

on the wall. The Candasaur grabbed one of the keys and opened the door next

to it.

"What?" a voice from inside growled.

"Hey, do you know which cell the President's in?" the Candasaur asked.

"426, why?"

"Thanks!" The Candasaur took off, Stacy following after, leaving the

door open. The prisoner, a Candasaur, walked to the door, looked up and down

the hall, shrugged, then walked out of his cell and down the stairs.

"And here I thought I was servin' a life sentence," he chuckled.

Stacy and the Candasaur barreled down the hall until they found cell

426. The Candasaur yanked the key off the wall, opened the cell, and, sure

enough found the Candasaur President.

"Hi! Did you come to save me?" the Candasaur President asked.

"If you can get out Ms. President, but first, I brought you a

visitor," the Candasaur replied. He motioned to Stacy for her to enter the

cell. Stacy stepped into the cell and looked at the President. She was

surprised by what she saw.

"Are you the... President?" she asked.

"Yep!" the President responded.

Stacy gawked at her. She was tiny, and she had a very high voice,

seeming to indicate that she was...

"Aren't you a little young to be President?" Stacy asked.

"Yes, yes she is," a wizened old voice said.

Stacy looked to her left and saw a much older Candasaurus, sitting on

a chair in the corner.

"Who are you?" Stacy asked.

"I am the President's father, and the High Priest of Trisaria," he

explained.

"Good to meet you," Stacy said quickly. She turned back to the

President, "I'm looking for Candace, do you know where she went?"

"She was with Xosizi the Alion. From what I heard, she and Xosizi

were both missing after the battle. Knowing Xosizi, if they didn't find his

dead rotting corpse after the battle, then he's still alive, and I'm sure he

took Candace with him. He would never have left her here..."

"What do you mean, 'left'?"

"When the Alions lost, we got word that they were running for their

ships, and that they were going to fly to Tizilidai."

The Candasaur suddenly jumped in, "But no one saw any ships leaving!"

he countered.

The President rolled her eyes, "Of course not! The Alions aren't

dumb! The turned on their cloaking devices while they left, duh! I don't

understand why no one can figure that out!"

"So, is Candace with Xosizi?" Stacy pressed.

"I don't actually know, but most likely, yes," the President replied.

"She's with him, all right," the priest said. Everyone turned and

looked at him.

"The heavens have told me that Xosizi took her to Tizilidai, and that

she is now in his home village, being trained as an Alion warrior."

"The heavens told you?" Stacy asked incredulously.

"You don't believe in the Powers of Heaven?" the priest asked.

"I believe in the Mysterious Force-though I'm not sure why…"

"Same difference. She's over there at any rate, whether you look at

it through a logical or a revelatory perspective..."

"Cool... where's Tizilidai?"

"It's the fifth planet in this solar system," the President explained,

"You find it, you find Candace. Xosizi's village is called Kilisyth. They

should both be there."

Stacy grinned, "Thanks," she said.

"Sure, just make sure to find her. We need her to come back and save

us," the President responded.

"Will do. Take care!" Stacy started to take off.

"Wait!" the Priest called.

Stacy stopped and looked at him.

"Take the elevator back down, not the stairs. The Tkpxzv are starting

to realize that was a false alarm. They'll be coming up the stairwell."

"Great, thanks," the Candasaur replied. And with that, he and Stacy

dashed off for the elevator. Stacy wasn't sure if she believed that guy was

really a priest, but she decided to play it safe and do what he said.

It worked. They got down to the first floor, snuck past a couple of

Tkpxzv, and went out the back door. Out in the prison parking lot they found

a sewer lid. They lifted it and climbed back into the sewer, only this time,

when they reached the bottom, they got as far away from the prison as

possible. They eventually climbed out of another sewer hole, somewhere else

in the city. They both looked up and down the street. They saw a few

Candasaurs, but no Tkpxzv. They ran down a nearby alley and sat down on a

couple of trash cans.

"That... was probably the craziest thing I've ever done," the

Candasaur remarked. He looked very weary.

"Thanks for the help. Being trapped in a sewer pipe is about the

worst thing that could ever happen to you. I don't think I would've gotten to

the President without you, either."

"I'm glad to help anyone who wants to get rid of the Tkpxzv... or

bring Candace back so SHE can get rid of them..."

"What's your name?" Stacy asked.

"Call me Jim."

"Jim... so, what're you going to do now? You're a fugitive from

non-justice."

"What're you going to do?"

"I've got to get back to Ferb's rocket and tell him that I found

Candace. He might be mad that I stowed away, but he'll be okay when I tell

him about her..."

"Maybe I'll follow you... I think I'd be safer on Tizilidai... hey,

what's that?"

They heard a roar off in the distance. The two turned and looked into

the sky. A white rocket, glinting in the last rays of the sunset, was

blasting into the sky.

Stacy eyes widened with horror, "That's Ferb's rocket!" she cried in

dismay.

"You said you stowed away? Does he not know you're here?" the

Candasaur asked.

"No, no he doesn't," Stacy groaned. She face palmed as she growled in

frustration.

"That stinks for you AND him, it sounds like. Unless he found out

where Candace went too..."

"This is great, just great..." Stacy moaned. It looked like her

search for Candace was far from over...

Ferb and Perry had scoured the whole area, looking for clues about

Candace, but to no avail. From what little they had gathered from their

investigation, she seemed to have run from the battle, possibly with an Alion.

The Alions, however, had somehow vanished after the battle.

Ferb didn't know their ships had cloaking devices.

He and Perry were going into orbit to do a planet-wide scan for

Candace, which would take several hours. If she didn't appear, then they had

decided that Tizilidai would be their best bet for finding her. They had asked

the Tkpxzv about going there, who said the planet was strictly off limits.

Only someone with written permission from the governor at Sirius could visit

it, lest he be thought an Alion ally.

So... if they didn't find Candace on Trisaria, then the next step was

to go to Sirius and get the governor's permission to visit Tizilidai.

Oh, how Ferb hated bureaucratic red tape. Going to Sirius would set

them back a couple days. But he supposed it was better than getting blasted

to smithereens and starting an interstellar war between Earth and an alien

empire.

"Ready to scan, Perry?" Ferb asked.

Perry flipped a couple of switches and pushed a button, starting the

planet-wide scan.

Ferb leaned forward on the control panel and sighed, "Only five hours

to go," he muttered.

Perry growled.


	4. Chapter 4: Preparations

Chapter 4: Preparations

BANG! BANG! BANG! The incessant ring of a hammer on metal filled

Isabella's ears. Phineas was currently trying to hammer in a particularly

stubborn nail on one of his Discourager Rays. She was trying to do the wiring

on a second, though her wiring patch had never covered anything this complex.

She stopped for a moment and looked over to see how Phineas was doing.

"Can't-get-this-stupid-nail-" he muttered.

"What's the matter?" Isabella asked.

"I'm not sure why, but this nail won't go in no matter how many times

I pound it."

"Here, let me try."

"It's fine Isabella, I'll-"

But she was already over. Phineas had to duck as she grabbed the

hammer from him and took a whirling swing that landed dead on the nail,

finally pounding it completely in.

"Uh... thanks," Phineas mumbled.

"Sure. You know, maybe I should hammer and you should wire, I'm lost

with those wire blueprints."

"Yeah, maybe..." Phineas muttered. He quietly walked over to the

other Ray and began fiddling with the wires.

Isabella watched him walk over, then picked up another nail and began

hammering in another metal plate. They continued in silence for several

minutes. Isabella glanced over at Phineas again. He looked... tired. Worn.

"Are you feeling okay, Phineas?" she asked, "You're not acting like

yourself."

Phineas sighed, "I'm fine..."

"No your not."

"Yeah, I'm not."

"So what's wrong?"

"It's just... this isn't fun anymore."

"What's not?"

"Inventing. Building these Discourager Rays is a chore. I thought

this job would be fun, but-"

"It's just that, a job."

"Yeah..."

"I see... well, if we get them done fast, like you used to back on

Earth, we'll have time to make something else."

"Actually we won't."

"We won't? Why not?"

"They want us to train for battle once these are done. We're both

pretty green."

"Gosh... when do we get to play?"

"People who have careers don't really play, Isabella."

Isabella frowned, "Well that stinks. We're only ten, we've got a lot

of playing left to do."

"We did... 'till Candace messed it all up."

"Yes, 'till she wrecked it."

Phineas looked narrowly at Isabella, "Hey, just curious, but since

when are you anti-Candace? I remember before that you wanted me to forgive

her."

"That changed when she shot you. NOBODY hurts you and gets away with

it, at least, not while I'm around."

"But wasn't she justified? We were trying to invade that city, and

she was trying to protect it!"

"She still hurt you, Phineas. She shouldn't have shot you."

Phineas snickered, "You really are cute, Isabella."

"What?"

"You're not mad because what she did was wrong, you're mad because she

shot you're *AHEM* 'best friend'," Phineas was sure to add the quotations with

his fingers to get the point across.

Isabella's cheeks turned pink, "And you're not mad at her because

what she did to you was wrong either. You're-"

"Wasn't it?"

"Well, if you had been SUPPOSED to be building a log flume in your

backyard, you're mom wouldn't have gotten upset."

Phineas had to laugh. That sentence couldn't have been used to

describe very many kids. "Fair enough... but just because what she did was,

well... law-supporting, did it make it right? Not everything the law does is

good, it's just... legal."

"You've gotten really twisted Phineas." Isabella said, smiling

slightly.

"Yes, yes I have. Holding a grudge and plotting revenge will do that

to you."

"You know, it's been funny to watch your descent into darkness,"

Isabella pointed out, "It all started, more or less, with an unlucky incident

that you got mad at."

"Yeah..."

"Then an even worse event followed, and those two events tore your

world apart. You were mad at the sudden loss, so you decided to pin the blame

on the person most responsible, Candace. She tried to save you and your

family, but you tried to avenge yourself of her and drove her away, thus

trapping you, me and your family for longer. While imprisoned, you allowed

your hatred to continue to fester and grow. It slowly began to consume you,

and eventually caused you to hate... pretty much everyone except me."

"Go on..."

"You became so hateful that our kidnapper noticed it, and he realized

that you might be useful to him. You used him to get yours and my freedom,

then set to work to get fuller revenge and to reclaim what you lost. You used

the scientist's equipment to bring Candace to your fortress. She unwittingly

tested your weapons system and helped you prove your abilities to the Tkpxzv,

who you contacted with the scientist's SETI device. You played everyone like

a bunch of cards and led them into a well-planned trap. The scientist got

thrown in jail, your sister got kidnapped by aliens, and you utterly crushed

what remained of your family's spirit. You completely broke all your enemies and

got supreme revenge."

"Wow. This makes me sound even more darkly awesome than I thought I

was."

"By the time we set foot on Hgtfpjsh's ship, the transformation was

complete. You had gone from a loving, happy, innocent boy, to a cruel,

vicious, selfish tyrant who only cared about continuing his old inventing

habits and making his sister miserable for the rest of eternity. I was the

only other person anywhere that you still cared about."

"Wow. Cool."

Isabella smirked. "I don't know how I said all of that with a

straight face. It just... doesn't bother me anymore... for some reason."

"That's because you sold your soul to me, Isabella."

"What?"

"The oath."

"Oh, that... but I just-"

"You said you'd stand by my side through thick and thin..."

"That's not selling your soul!"

"Only if the oath has LIMITS. You have shown me unlimited friendship,

Isabella. The problem is, if you're friends with a bad guy for long enough,

he starts to rub off on you."

"Rub off? What do you mean?"

"It seems like nothing at first. You're just trying to help a friend

in need. You just sit there and listen to him rant so he can blow off some

steam, then you help him with a little project..."

"Phineas, please..."

"Please what?"

"Please stop."

"Why? You don't want to hear the truth?"

"Well..."

"Then that 'innocent' little project you helped with blows

some people up. You thought you were a murderer... until you realized none of

them died. It seemed like a breath of fresh air... like you'd been redeemed,

as if their survival somehow justified your actions..."

"But they didn't die... I didn't kill anyone!"

"It doesn't really matter whether you did or not, because your actions

still COULD have. They were just lucky. The sin wasn't removed because they

survived."

"What's the point, Phineas?"

"You're being corrupted too, Isabella."

"Really?"

"It didn't stop there. While you thought you were a murderer, you

gave up your self control. Since you had nothing to lose, you gave me a big,

fat, sloppy kiss, stuck your head in the toilet, punched the Fireside girls in

their robotic face, and helped me defend the fortress."

"The kiss wasn't evil!"

"No, but your actions when you were a murderer proved that you obey

the rules not because they're right, but because you fear punishment. You

showed that, at heart, you weren't as good as the facade you put up. You also

relinquished your self-mastery and allowed yourself to be carried about with

your every whim, weakening your will and making you more susceptible to

corruption."

"Oh, come on, Phineas, I'm not a bad guy!"

"Once on the ship, you revealed the struggle going on inside you as

you spoke with me and when you spoke with Candace... yes, I watched that

little chat you had with her on the ship's log."

"You ARE evil..."

"I could see that you were torn. You knew Candace was right, you knew

I was wrong, and you knew the right person to side with was her, but you had

made your oath to me, and you couldn't break it. And finally, at that battle,

Candace gave you an excuse to fully side with me."

"Maybe I shouldn't have made that oath..."

At this point Phineas looked Isabella straight in the eyes. He just

stared for a moment.

"What?"

"But you don't regret making it. In fact, you're glad you did."

"Glad? I could be at home right now! I could be relaxing and

enjoying Summer! I could be doing things with my Fireside Troop! I could see

my Mom..."

Phineas stared at her some more.

"What? What are you doing?" she cried.

"But you don't want to do those things. You want to be here with me."

"Phineas, I don't need you," Isabella said coldly, "I could get up and

leave right now and go home."

"Okay. Go."

Isabella hesitated. Phineas just stared at her. Two full minutes

passed.

"Well? What are you waiting for? I'm not stopping you. The Tkpxzv

won't care," Phineas said.

Isabella didn't move. She just stared back at Phineas.

"Go on, leave. Save yourself while you still can!" Phineas prodded.

She was still frozen.

"I'll be fine... it's not like I can lose much more than I already

have. I even release you from your oath... again."

Isabella still wouldn't budge. Phineas continued watching her for

another minute. Finally, his lip curled into a sinister grin.

"You can't do it," he said flatly.

Isabella's lip trembled a bit. She hung her head.

"You're not bound to me by an oath, Isabella. You're CHAINED to me by

your love, a love so strong, that you would rather subvert your principles

than lose me. You'd sooner follow me down into the abyss than leave my side."

Isabella didn't respond.

"Isabella... you NEED me."

Isabella shook her head slowly.

"No? Then leave."

Isabella went rigid. She stood still for a moment, then she finally

reached up, yanked her bow out of her hair and threw it on the ground. She

screamed and jumped on it, stomping it flat then growled in frustration and

collapsed to her knees, tearing at her hair.

"O, chains of hell!" Phineas cried, "We both are chained down by the

devil! I am chained down by hate and sin, and you, Isabella are chained down

with me by sin, and moreover, by corrupt love. Your love for me is so strong

that it has overcome you morals and your free will. Both you and I are slaves

to our own passions."

"Rats," Isabella grunted pathetically.

"Now... Isabella, you find yourself helping me again... helping me

destroy and enslave another race... and helping me to find Candace so I-and

now you-can enslave her and cause her unending misery..."

Isabella hung her head in shame and despair. He was right... and what

was worse, she couldn't bring herself to STOP helping him. She was no longer

in control of herself or her own destiny... PHINEAS was in control... and he

wasn't in control of himself either... his hate was. If Phineas was riding

his merry way down to H-E-double hockey sticks... she was going down with him.

"You still think you're the good guy, Isabella?"

"No..." she said sadly.

"There's no more monkey in the middle here... you've chosen a side...

and you chose wrong."

"What've I done?" Isabella whispered.

"More like what've WE done," Phineas added, "It's ironic, really, that

you should be so unhappy about this..."

"What do you mean?"

"It's ironic that you're unhappy. Your wrong choices have gotten you

what you've always wanted, more than anything else."

"You..." Isabella admitted.

Phineas turned to her, "You're mine, Isabella. I can do anything I

want with you."

"Yes... yes you can," Isabella whispered weakly.

"You're lucky I hate Candace and not you."

Isabella didn't answer. She was trapped... just like Phineas.

Neither of them could let go of what they wanted most.

Phineas went and sat down next to Isabella, "How's it feel to be my

slave?" he asked.

Isabella cursed under her breath.

"Sorrowing of the damned," Phineas observed. He pulled Isabella into

a close hug, which she returned.

"I've got some of my own sorrowing to do," he whispered, "I'm sorry

that my hate hurt you... and I'm sorry I can't let it go so you can go home.

I'm sorry I dragged you down with me, Isabella..."

"But it's what I wanted..." she replied.

"And even now, you don't regret following me. Even now, you wouldn't

change anything that you did."

"You're right. Like you said... I'm yours, Phineas... forever..."

"Yes, yes you are... even after we die, our fates are intertwined,

because we'll drag each other down to the same place."

"And I still won't regret it," Isabella said firmly.

Phineas grinned, "And neither will I."

The initiation hadn't ended there. After the prophecies, the

Candaces had received their weapons. They had actually gotten to watch, and

even help make their weapons. A gunsmith had helped Candace the Candasaur

build her energy/grenade cannon, while Candace of Earth, with instructions

from a blacksmith, had forged her own steel swordspear... which she was

looking at now.

She wasn't at the blacksmith anymore. The initiation had ended hours

ago. After that she and the other Candace had sworn oaths to protect Tizilidai

and its freedom, as well as their own freedom to the best of their abilities.

After that they'd both received scrolls with copies of their prophecies on

them, and then they'd gone to a nearby campsite and settled down for the

night.

Candace however, hadn't been able to sleep. She had made sure that

Candace the Candasaur, Xosizi, and the Candasaur's parents were all asleep,

then she'd gotten out of her bedroll and walked a little ways off. She had

gone to a hill overlooking the valley, with a view similar to the one she'd

seen on the cliff earlier. She was currently looking at her swordspear.

It was an interesting weapon. It was nearly twenty feet long. Its

handle and a heavy counterweight took up the first three feet, then the last seventeen

made up a long, two-edged sword blade. Despite it's length, it was reasonably light,

which was good, because Candace figured that it would be almost impossible for

her to wield otherwise. Xosizi had taken it and swung it like a champion, chopping

down a couple of trees with a single swing. Candace had attempted the same feat, but

with much less impressive results. She had chopped pretty deep into a tree...

but it was definitely still standing when she was done.

Candace held the weapon near it's base and took another swing. She

didn't understand how this thing would ever help her during a fight. If she

had as much strength as an Alion it might be a good weapon, but she didn't, so

wielding it was really awkward. She took another swing for good measure, then

sat down on the Alion grass, or whatever it was. She looked up into the alien

stars, mulling everything over.

What was really keeping her awake was her prophecy. Normally she

would have blown something like that off, but that guy had known WAY too much

about her for the prophecy to have been fake. She sighed and stared into the

sky. It seemed as if she was in the eye of the storm. In four days, all hell

was going to break loose, and if she wasn't ready... she looked out at the

village and imagined it burned to the ground with a bunch of dead Alions lying

all over the place... a dead Candace Flynn among them.

She looked at the sky again, "Why me?" she asked, "Why would you ever

pick me of all people?"

The sky held it's peace. That's what it usually did.

"I'm NOBODY. What makes you think that I can stop Phineas and an evil

alien race from taking over a planet I don't even belong to?"

The sky was silent.

"I know you're out there," Candace gruffed, "Even though you don't

answer me... usually. This doesn't make any sense... I'm just some random,

stupid teenager with a couple of crazy little brothers. I'm not a thunder

goddess or a great warrior or any of that! Why on Earth would you pick me as

your champion? Why?"

The sky remained silent.

Candace fell on her back and groaned. She hadn't really expected an

answer. The Mysterious Force knew she was talking to it... but it would

answer her in its own time and its own way... if it answered her at all.

She stared at the stars for a while. Not sure what to think of

anything. She really just wished she could start over. She wished that she

HADN'T accidentally busted Phineas and Ferb, and that Doofenshmirtz had never

found their house and...

"What's it all for?" Candace whispered, "Is there a reason for it, or

do I just have rotten luck?"

Candace shivered as the cold Alion wind blew across her. She

continued staring into the sky, asking herself all the big questions but

coming up with no answers... except one.

"We all have a picture to draw," she mused, "We all have a life to

live. We can do great things, or we can be mediocre, or even bad. Who we are

depends on what we choose to do with what we're given... I just wish I'd been

given something else... something with less people depending on me."

She sighed. She didn't feel anywhere near up to the challenge she'd

been given... but she'd been given it, so she had to succeed or die... or be

Phineas' slave, which the Alions seemed to think was even worse.

She stared into the sky until she fell asleep, exhausted from the day

and from worrying over the future.

She didn't sleep long.

She was jolted awake when her arms, legs, head and gut were all yanked

into the air. As her eyes opened, she dimly made out the shapes of at least a

dozen Alions. She yelped and struggled frantically as they quickly hog-tied her

and hauled her off into some sort of vehicle. She triedto yell for help as they

threw her in the trunk, but that's hard to do with gag in your mouth. She wrenched

herself into a sitting position and tried to jump out of the vehicle, but one of the

Alions gave her a good, solid punch to the head...

She woke up later with a nasty headache... and she was still hog-tied.

She would've panicked if she hadn't felt so... uhhnnn... She looked around.

She couldn't see anything. Everything was just... black.

"Bhere ab bai?" Candace blubbed.

No one answered her. She sat up and jumped around a bit. She

realized she wasn't in the vehicle anymore-she would've hit the sides of the

trunk. She also noticed a slight grinding noise as she shifted. It sounded

kind of like... gravel? She reached down with her tied-behind-her-back hands

and felt the ground. It was rough... it was rock.

Candace wondered why she couldn't see anything. Was she blind? Had

they put her eyes out? She tested them, rolling them this way and that. They

felt fine, so she probably wasn't blind, just in a place with no light...

No light, rock floor...

It's a cave, she finally decided.

Candace mentally backed up and reviewed her situation. She'd been

kidnapped, she was hog-tied, and she was in a pitch-dark cave on an alien

planet.

Great.

After mentally bemoaning her situation, Candace decided the first

thing to do was untie herself.

Easier said than done.

"Freeshhh... meeaat..."

Candace heard something clomping toward her. In fact, she heard a lot

of things clomping toward her... from different directions... which meant she

was probably surrounded.

"Yummy..."

"New prisoner... tasty..."

Candace did what any self-respecting person would do. She forced

herself to her feet and began hopping away, all the while struggling with the

bonds around her arms.

"Gotcha!"

Something reached out and grabbed Candace, making her bowl over,

however, as she fell, she had the good sense to kick out toward the voice.

Her feet contacted nicely with whatever was after her, causing it to grunt

loudly and fall over... or, at least, it sounded like it fell over. Candace

couldn't actually see it. Once she hit the ground, she began rolling away,

trying to stay as far away from her enemies as possible. As she rolled, she

was able to get her hands free by pulling one of them up higher than the other

and using her fingers to push one of the rope loops over and off her other

hand, which then loosened the rest enough for her to wiggle free.

She heard about a dozen footsteps charging toward her. Candace knew

she didn't have long. She quickly reached down to untie her feet, and was

just getting the knot loose when something jumped on her. She felt it's jaws

clamping over her neck and responded by reaching out for ITS neck (she had to

guess where it was) and squeezing. Whatever it was didn't like being choked,

so it grabbed her hands and yanked them off. While it was doing that,

however, Candace, wiggled her legs free, arched her back and kicked the thing

off of her, sending her attacker into the air and clobbering a couple of other

creatures that Candace guessed had been pouncing at her.

Candace quickly got to her feet and ran in a random direction. She

could hear the frustrated... whatever they were running after her. Candace

reached up and yanked the gag out of her mouth, freeing herself completely.

She wasn't sure how to get rid of whatever was after her. She wanted to

escape, but she couldn't see-

BAM! Candace ran smack into a wall. It hurt a lot, but it helped her

too. She began running along the wall, keeping her hand on it and hoping it

would lead her to an exit and not a bottomless pit. She ran at breakneck

speed, even though she couldn't see, because she COULD hear the hungry beasts

still chasing her. Their footsteps seemed to be getting closer. She was

beginning to wonder if she'd find the exit before they caught up when her hand

felt something different-air.

Candace faced the emptiness and shouted. The reverberations confirmed

that she had indeed found a passageway. She stuck her hand on the wall of the

passage and began running down it. She had scarcely gone two feet when a

horde of who-knew-what leapt out of nowhere and piled on top of her. The

angry creatures grabbed her and began hauling her down the passageway. The

confused teenager struggled madly. She finally got one of the things to let

her go by pulling its hand, which was holding her arm, toward her mouth and

biting it.

The thing yelped and dropped her. Candace seized the moment and

performed an extremely violent twisting maneuver that helped her get loose.

She fell to the ground, began running, and got pounced on by several of the

things that had been holding her. A nasty brawl ensued, in the which Candace

got beaten senseless but also managed to score a number of vicious blows on

her adversaries. She may have won had she not been outnumbered (and if she

had been able to see), but she was, so they beat her up and dragged her to

wherever it was they were taking her.

A torture chamber, it seemed. Candace soon found herself strung up by

her arms-with razor wire. As if that didn't hurt enough, they did it with her

legs and stomach as well. She screamed as the wires cut into her flesh and

lashed her against a wall. Her captors then proceeded to slash her with

knives (if that's what they were, she still couldn't see)-though they seemed

to be avoiding vitals-this was torture, after all, not death.

Candace wailed in agony with every slice. She'd never felt so much

pain in her life. She thought wildly for a way to escape. Her reeling brain

realized that it had to break the razor wire, but that if it did-

Candace shrieked as knife slice her side open. Instinct took over.

With strength only a situation like hers could bring, Candace yanked her arms

down and snapped the wires holding them, cutting her wrists to the bone and

shredding her hands, but miraculously missing her veins, while simultaneously

kicking her legs and breaking the wires holding them, as well as kicking one

of her tormentors. She then untied the wire over her gut and dropped to the

floor.

Her enraged foes let out a series of terrible roars and charged at the

injured girl, but Candace was in no mood to give up. Yelling madly, she

drove into her enemies with a primal fury, punching, kicking and throwing them

to the side. She smashed her way through what seemed to be dozens of enemies

and found the wall, and soon after, the door, which she yanked open and dashed

out of.

Her captors didn't give up. They chased after her. A she ran down

the passageways going heaven-knew-where, their friends leapt seemingly out of

the walls and attacked her. She fought back. Candace had subconsciously

determined that she was NOT going back to that torture chamber. She'd rather

die trying to fight her way through the swarms of bad guys. With the same

primal rage that had driven her earlier, Candace pounded her way through

dozens and dozens and dozens of enemies. In all the fighting she got cut up

worse. She got battered and bruised and clobbered all over, but she would not

stop. She ran and ran and ran, hoping, praying for light, pleading with the

heavens that she would somehow find the end of the cave and get out alive.

Incredibly, she did.

Eventually she saw it. Light. It was dim, but it was light. She

dashed for it, ready to emerge into glorious sunlight-

When she emerged from the cave however, there was no sunlight. In

fact, there was almost no light at all... there was just a little, just enough

to know that she had left the cave, but that was it.

She emerged into a sandstorm.

Sand blasted into her eyes and stung her wounds and the wind screeched

like she had in the torture chamber. Tears came to Candace's eyes as her

hopes for safety and rest got ripped away with the howling winds. She heard

her foes barreling up the passage behind her, and she knew she had only one

chance.

She ran into the sandstorm, eyes shut tight. She coughed and gagged

as she tried to breathe and instead sucked in sand and gravel. In spite of

the agony, she kept running. She ran and ran and ran until she could no

longer hear her captors, until the cave was far away, until she could hear

nothing but the wail of the wind and the clattering of the sand.

Candace stopped and collapsed into the dust. She was almost too tired

to cry, but she did. Not loudly-she couldn't get a proper lungful of air-but

softly, quietly.

She wanted to sleep-but she knew she couldn't. If she went to sleep

in her current condition, she may well have never gotten back up. So she just

lay there in the sand, crying. She didn't know how long it was. It could

have been hours, or it could have been weeks. She didn't know, but eventually

she looked up through her sobs and realized that the winds were easing and

that the storm was dying down. Soon, the sand had cleared, and the glorious

light of morning burst upon the weary girl.

Candace cried some more at the sight-at the fact that there WAS a

sight. She hadn't been able to see much of anything since she'd been

captured. She looked over and saw that she was nearly buried in sand. She

pushed herself up on her hands, shook the dust off and sat up. She turned her

bloody, sandy, tear-streaked face to the beautiful, bright, glorious sky.

"Thank you," she whispered, "Whoever you are, whatever you are, thank

you for getting me out of there alive. Thank you for clearing the sand and

letting me see again. Thank you..."

Candace sobbed uncontrollably, overcome with gratitude. She had never

realized just how wonderful it was... just the simple fact that she was alive.

That she could see... that the sky was still there, that the sun, though it

was an alien sun, still rose in the morning. That she was still there...

injured and exhausted though she was... was enough for her.

"I never realized just how great it is just to be alive... I always

just took it for granted... but no more," Candace said to herself.

She cried for a while and finally calmed down enough to examine

herself. It wasn't pretty. Her wrists and hands were mutilated badly from

the razor wire. It was going to be hard to grip stuff for a while. Candace

was suddenly glad she was up to date on her tetanus shots... her clothes were

shredded in all sorts of places where she'd been slashed , and her

ankles and her stomach were all sliced up. She was covered head to toe in dried

blood. She didn't understand how she hadn't died from blood loss. To make

matters worse, she had a ton of dirt in all her cuts now, just so they'd get

infected.

Candace looked out across the empty desert. She was surrounded by

sand dunes. She couldn't see the cave she'd come from, which she figured was

probably a good thing. All she could see in every direction was sand, sand-

wait-off in the distance, in the direction opposite the sunrise, was a

mountain... with trees... green trees. That meant water, and water meant

life, and maybe, a place to rest.

The mountains weren't close... it would be a long walk, but Candace

knew they were her only chance.

"All right mountains, here I come..." Candace whispered. She got

shakily to her feet and began trudging, yes, trudging, toward the far-off

mountain. She prayed that she wouldn't give out before she made it. Judging

by what she'd done earlier, however, she believed that she could reach the

mountains alive.

Candace staggered on for hours. The glorious sun she'd been so glad

to see quickly became her enemy. Sunburn and dehydration added to her misery

as the temperature rose. Her cuts stung and her feet ached from the hike. In

spite of it all, Candace couldn't help but wonder what on Tizilidai was going

on. Who had kidnapped her? And why? Why hadn't Xosizi heard anything and

come to help her? She hadn't been far. It seemed like a warrior like him

would have slept lighter than that.

Candace was exhausted. She wanted to quit, but she knew if she gave

up there, out in the middle of the desert, she was dead. Thus, she plodded

onward, step after step. Slowly the mountains seemed to get closer. She was

beginning to think she might just make it...

Then, from over the dunes around her, a pack off Alions, all armed to

the teeth, appeared. Candace summoned her exhausted strength and started to

run, but soon realized she was surrounded. The Alions began closing in on

her.

"What's the matter with you all? Leave me alone!" Candace cried

pitifully. The Alions seemed unmoved, as they continued tightening the noose.

Candace, not knowing what else to do, charged at the Alion in from of

her. It pointed it's gun at her and took aim, but Candace had a trick up her

sleeve. A few feet before she reached him, she jumped forward, hit the ground

with both feet, sprang forward and did a front flip over his head (all the

while silently thanking her Mom for that gymnastics class she'd forced her to

take when she was six.) She landed and took off as fast as her tired legs

would carry her.

The Alions opened fire, striking Candace dozens of times. It hurt a

lot, but Candace was surprised to find that they were shooting her with

pellets rather than bullets. Again, as when they cut her earlier, it seemed

like they were trying to torture rather than kill her.

Candace pumped her legs hard, trying to escape, but in her exhausted

condition, she just couldn't seem to outrun her enemies, let alone get out of

range of their pellet guns. They chased her for mile after mile, unloading

their pellets on her whenever possible. Candace dimly noted that she could

now add a collection of nasty bruises to her cuts, most of which were on her

back. The pellet guns were beginning to seem trivial, however, compared to

the running. She'd already been wiped out when the chase began, but now, a

couple miles later... let's just say she hadn't realized her legs could burn

like this... or that her heart could pound this hard... or that her mouth

could foam like that (don't send THAT picture to Jeremy)... or... you get the

idea. But she couldn't stop. There was no cover, no where to hide. If she

stopped she would be captured again at best and killed at worst.

A few miles further, the Alions with the pellet guns finally gave up

and stopped. Candace thanked the Mysterious Force that she had survived. As

soon as she thought that, a couple of Alions jumped out from behind a rock in

front of her. Each one was carrying a hose. Candace had a sudden fleeting

hope that there was water behind to rock and that they were about to spray

her.

And spray her they did... with tear gas.

Or, that's what the choking, noxious substance seemed to be. Candace

teared up and gagged miserably (never mind the fact that she'd already run

six miles and that she was completely out of breath). Her body finally gave

out and she collapsed... but she quickly forced herself to her hands and knees

and started crawling, choking on the gas. The Alions dashed through the cloud

wearing gas masks and leapt at her, crushing her to the ground. Candace was

definitely suffocating, but the Alions attack gave her a quick burst of fury

and she whipped around and punched one of them, knocking him off. The other

one grabbed her throat (not really necessary at this point) and tried to force

her back down, but she kicked him in the sternum and sent him rolling off her.

Candace again began dragging herself forward, trying to escape the

cloud of gas. She could feel her consciousness slipping from the lack of

oxygen. She knew she had to escape the cloud or she was done for.

The Alion she'd thrown off earlier came back for more. He leapt at her,

slamming her to the ground, practically knocking her out. Desperate,

Candace whirled about, grabbed his gas mask, and yanked it off his face.

Well... the Alion didn't stick around long after that. His stalk eyes

bugged and immediately began watering profusely. He coughed a couple of times

and ran for it, eyes shut tight. Candace shoved the mask on and started to

crawl forward... then she fainted, finally overcome.

However... she wasn't out for long. Though the mask itself had tear

gas inside it, it began to flow out, and oxygen, filtered from the tear gas

by the mask, began flowing in. Candace's body automatically began to breath

in fresh air, and oxygen returned to her brain, waking her up.

"Uh..." Candace groaned stupidly. She quickly realized where she was

and began crawling forward again. The cloud of tear gas slowly thinned until

she had escaped it completely. Once she was sure she had completely escaped

the cloud, she ripped the mask (which was making her sweat and stinging her

cuts) off and took in a lungful of unfiltered desert air. Boy, dust had never

tasted so sweet. She got to her feet and looked at the mountains. They were

close now. Candace began trudging toward them again. As she did, she looked

back at where she had been. She saw the cloud of gas first, further back she

could see the Alions with the Pellet guns, and way, way back, she saw a rocky

outcropping where she thought the cave probably was. A question slapped her

mind so hard that she stopped. She turned to take in the full view of the

trials she'd been through.

"W...why... am I not dead?" Candace asked in exhausted wonder.

It was a valid question. What she'd been through in the past few

hours would've been more than enough to kill or at least subdue most people,

but for some reason it hadn't killed, or, for that matter, even subdued

Candace Flynn. Candace couldn't help but feel a little smug. She smiled and

laughed a little.

"Criminy, I didn't know I was this tough!" she exclaimed proudly. She

looked back at the mountain, flush with renewed courage. She marched forward,

determined to both survive and escape.

Within another hour she finally reached the foot of the mountain. The

foot of the forest, however, was a good half mile up the side of it. Candace

debated whether to stop and rest there or climb to the forest. She decided if

she stopped there that she'd still be in the open and that would make her a

sitting duck, so she forced her screaming muscles to start climbing.

As the exhausted Flynn dragged herself up the mountain, questions

started spinning in her head. Where was she? Why were these things after

her? And where the heck was Xosizi when she needed him? Unfortunately, she

didn't have the answers to any of her questions, so she decided just to focus

on survival... or maybe on resting. The forest was getting close. The trees

were only about a hundred feet away...

Candace saw something move in the trees. Actually, she saw a LOT of

things move in the trees.

_Great. Another Ambush,_ Candace thought irritably. She pretended not

to see her foes and continued climbing. As expected, when she was about five

feet from the tree line, about ten Alions leapt out of the woods at her, not

realizing she'd seen them. The well-prepared Candace easily jumped out of

the way, grabbing one of them out of the air as she did. She landed and

started swinging the Alion around in circles (remember, Alions are stronger

than people, but they're also a lot smaller), eventually releasing him and

hurling him into his comrades and sending some of them sprawling to the

ground. Candace took advantage of the momentary confusion and dashed into the

woods. The Alions recovered and charged in after her. Candace knew she was

too tired to outrun them for long, so she started looking for a place to hide.

You'd think it would be easy to find a hiding place in a forest, but Candace

couldn't see a good spot.

_C'mon Candace, think!_ Candace thought desperately. Then it hit her.

She dropped to the ground and laid there, perfectly still. She heard

the Alions' footsteps getting louder and louder, she heard them stomping only

a few feet away... and then they got quieter and quieter. She chanced a quick

look up and saw that they had run right past her. She waited until she could

no longer hear them... and then she put her head back down and laid there some

more. She had been trying to find a place to rest, and this was as good a

spot as any. She was starting to fall asleep when something tapped her on the

shoulder.

Fearing another attack, Candace rolled over and leapt to her feet,

landing in a combat stance, or, at least, as close to a combat stance as she

knew how. Sure enough, another Alion was standing there. Candace got ready

to fight, but she was slightly disarmed when she noticed what the Alion was

holding..

"Is... is that my swordspear?" Candace asked.

"Indeed it is, young one," the Alion said, tossing the weapon to her.

Candace sort of caught it, but then fumbled and dropped it. She

quickly bent over and picked it up, slightly embarrassed.

"Why are you giving this to me?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm here to help you. Come, follow me! Hurry, before they come

back!" he turned and jogged off into the woods.

Candace really hoped this wasn't a trap. She took off after him as

fast as she could.

It was raining.

Normally getting stuck in the rain for five hours would have made

Stacy miserable, but since she was covered in sewage, well... it was kind of

nice.

After some quick deliberation, she and Jim had decided going to his

house would be a great way to get caught, so they had found a nice, dark alley

and spent the night there. Before the sun even rose, a downpour started and

both human and Candasaur were soaked to the bone.

Stacy was actually getting a little tired of the rain. The sewage

had been completely washed off by the third hour, so now she was just wet and

cold.

Jim wasn't too happy, either. He had taken a major risk by going and

buying some breakfast from an (unguarded) Candasaur shop and bringing it back

to the alley. They'd been done for some time now. The problem was, neither

Stacy or Jim knew what to do next. Without Ferb's ship Stacy was stranded

on Trisaria, and, again, Jim couldn't go home either, since the Tkpxzv would

be looking for him. Stacy finally decided to speak first.

"So Jim... now what?"

"I don't know... I guess we just sit in this alley, I mean, you can't

leave the planet, I can't go home... we're kind of... stuck."

"I need to find some way to get to this, T-zil-i-"

"Tizilidai."

"Thanks. That's where Candace is at. I need to find her and bring

her home."

"Stacy... you can't even get YOURSELF home right now..."

"That's true... still, I'm not going back to Earth without Candace."

"I wouldn't worry too much about Candace if I were you, you're

actually in a much worse position than she is right now."

"I am?"

"Tizilidai is the safest place in the known galaxy. The Tkpxzv can't

get to her there. She probably won't be flying back to-what'd you call your

planet?-Earth anytime soon, but she'll be safe until the time comes... IF it

comes."

"Why can't she fly to Earth from there?"

"The race that controls Tizilidai, the Alions, is very strong, but

their territory ends a couple thousand miles from their planet's surface.

Beyond there EVERYTHING belongs to the Tkpxzv... even if she somehow escaped

the Epsilon Eridani system, she would be tracked back to Earth, and when

the Tkpxzv found an Alion ship heading for Earth, they'd think the Alions and

Earth-people had formed an alliance and, well..."

"Bye, bye Earth?" Stacy guessed meekly.

"Basically."

Stacy thought a moment, "So the only way to get home would be to get

the Tkpxzv out of here."

"That, or get back on Ferb's rocket... without the Tkpxzv knowing."

"Well, Ferb's not going to find Candace here, so I don't think he'll

be back anytime soon, and I don't know how to get rid of the Tkpxzv..."

"We could try to steal a trade craft and fly to Tizilidai, at least we

wouldn't be on the run there. Of course... the launch pad is one of the most

heavily guarded areas of the city, and I'm pretty sure there aren't any sewers

there. The last thing the Tkpxzv want is for a Candasaur to escape and find

help... though, I'm not entirely sure there's any out there anyway..."

"So basically... we either have to get to Tizilidai or-no. I'm getting

both me AND Candace back to Earth, no matter what! Which means..."

"You're only option is to defeat the Tkpxzv and liberate the star

system."

"I-I guess so..."

"Well see, that's just it. If we could get to Tizilidai, we could get

Candace back and she could defeat the Tkpxzv!"

"How would Candace defeat the Tkpxzv?"

"The Candasaurs practically worship her... don't ask, it's a long

story, but she could rally the Candasaurs and lead an uprising to defeat the

Tkpxzv! Alas, if only-" Jim suddenly stopped. He turned and looked closely

at Stacy's headband.

"What?"

"That's it."

"What?"

"You."

"What about me?"

"We might not need Candace at all... or, we might at least be able to

get help. If the Candasaurs are willing to help Candace, they may also be

willing to help her friend."

"What are you suggesting?"

"YOU can lead the uprising."

"Sorry Jim, but I ain't no general."

"NOBODY here is. You'd probably have as good a chance of beating the

Tkpxzv as anyone else on this planet."

"Look, I just want to get Candace and go home."

"You can't do that unless the Tkpxzv are gone."

"So what you basically saying is, I have no choice."

"Yes."

Stacy shrugged, "Whatever."

"The question is, how do we START the uprising?"

"We can help you with that."

Jim and Stacy turned to see the President and the Priest walking down

the alley toward them.

"What the-? Where'd you come from?" Stacy asked.

"Well, you opened the door to the cell, so-" the Priest began.

"We got up and walked out," the President finished.

"How'd you not get caught?" Jim wondered.

"We released some of the other prisoners and then ambushed the

guards."

"Good job," Stacy said.

"So... does that mean there's a bunch of hardened criminals loose in

the city now?" Jim asked.

"Basically," the Priest replied.

"I see."

"Anyway, if you want to start an uprising, we'll help you out. I was

going to do it on my own, but having Candace's friend to rally the people

should make the job easier," the President said.

"Not that I don't like Candace or anything, but why is everyone here

so obsessed with her?" Stacy asked.

"Legend has it that she defeated a T-rex 66 million years ago by

calling down thunder from the sky, vaporizing it and saving our ancestors,

though, according to her she just came back on a time machine and got struck

by lightning while the T-rex was nearby," the President explained.

"I think she told me about that. She smelled like smoke that day..."

"Regardless of what happened, my people revere her as a goddess.

According to prophecy she's supposed to return one day and save us from the

Tkpxzv... that seems to have fallen through, but maybe you can give them

hope."

"I can give people hope?"

"I don't know, can you?"

"She will give hope to any who still have faith in the heavens," the

Priest said.

"The heavens? You mean the Mysterious Force?" Stacy said.

"Doesn't matter. Will you help us, Friend of Candace?" the President

asked.

"Will you help me find Candace if I do?"

"Sure."

"All right, where do we start?"

"Thanks to past Presidents, we have, like, no military, however,

recent events being what they are, the Alions trained two thousand Candasaurs

for battle and armed them with some of the best guns the galaxy has to offer.

If we can find them, we might have a chance of beating the Tkpxzv."

"Only two thousand? Against HOW many Tkpxzv?"

"Like I said, they're armed for the job."

"If you say so..."

"All of them had field radios with signal cloaks so the enemy

wouldn't be able to track them."

"What's a signal cloak?"

"Something a primitive like you would be totally confused by," Jim

said.

"Who you calling 'primitive'?" Stacy said edgily.

"I don't know how it works, I just know that it does," the President

continued, "If we can get to their old bunker, there should be a central radio

there we can use to call them. Now, in case the enemy's calling, they won't

pick up unless we give them a special signal... unfortunately, I don't

remember what the signal was..."

"How're we supposed to talk to them then?" Stacy asked.

"I wrote the signal down on a piece of paper… which is sitting

in my desk at the Capitol Building."

"So we need to go to the capitol building and find the code," Stacy

surmised.

"Yep."

"It's heavily guarded, isn't it?"

"Yep."

Stacy shrugged, "Well, I've already broken into a maximum security

prison and faced disintegration, rain and sewers, so... let's get started!"

The President smiled, "I like your attitude, Friend of Candace, let's

go!"

"BWCTFADR?"

"BWCTFADR."

"BWCTFADR?"

"BWCTFADR."

"What the heck is BWCTFADR?" Candace asked incredulously.

"It's a word you must never forget!"

"I don't even know if I can!"

"Good!"

"Why do I need to remember it?"

Candace had followed the Alion to a clearing in the forest. He said

they would be safe there for little while. Candace didn't know if she

believed him, but she went along with him anyway.

"It's an acronym for the seven basic laws of combat. Each letter

represents a word... the acronym you're hearing in your tongue is probably

different than mine though."

"Is that why it's such an awful word? Or why it has eight letters

instead of seven?"

"No, each letter represents one law."

"So there's eight laws then?"

"No, just seven. One of them is so important that it comes before the

laws of combat."

"Which one?"

"Number zero, or the letter B."

"That makes no sense at all."

"B is for better, never fight someone who's better than you unless you

have to."

"You mean someone who's a better fighter?"

"Trag."

"Seems like a good idea."

"Yep, the most important law of fighting is to not fight if you don't

have to. Talk it out, run away, avoid the battle altogether if you can."

"So... BW... BWC... BWCTFADR, right? What's W?"

"W is for win."

"I guess that would be important."

"Much more than you think. Combat is ninety-nine percent mental.

Winners win first and then fight. Losers fight first and then try to win."

"So what you're saying is... I need to outsmart them?"

"No, it means that before you ever start fighting, you need to know

that you can win. If you think that you can win, and he thinks he's going to

lose, he'll probably lose even if he's a better fighter than you are."

"So, believe in myself then?"

"Trag. Remember that nobody, no matter how good they are, is

unbeatable, that you can ALWAYS win, no matter what their skill level."

"So what's C?"

"Cocky. Don't get cocky."

"Wasn't the last law that I should believe in myself?"

"Yes, but if you get overconfident you'll lose anyway."

"So... I need to believe I can win, but not believe I can win at the

same time?"

"Think of it this way... know that it's always POSSIBLE for you to

win, but also know that it's always possible for you to LOSE, no matter how

weak you think they are. You'll know you're balancing fear and courage

correctly if you think you can win, and yet you're still completely terrified

of the other guy."

"So I need to have a positive attitude but recognize that he's still

dangerous."

"Exactly. Also remember that no threat is too small. Always take

your opponents seriously. The weakest of the weak have destroyed the

mightiest of the mighty because the mighty thought they were invincible."

"Better... win... cocky... T is for..."

"Think. Don't think. Turn your brain OFF during a fight. Never try

to figure out how to win. There's no time. Your body already knows how to

fight, even if you haven't trained it. It's hardwired instinct, but it'll

only help you if you calm your mind and let your body take control."

"I shut my brain down to fight? Are you sure about that one?"

"Sounds like a bad idea, doesn't it? Trust me on this one. During a

fight, don't think, just react."

"All right I guess..."

"F is focus. Keep your eyes on the enemy and don't look away, think

or be otherwise distracted. This is critical."

"Okay..."

"A is attack. Never attack, always defend."

"How do I hit him if I never attack?"

"I didn't say don't hit him, I said don't hit him FIRST. Always let

him strike first."

"I should let him hit me?"

"No, you still dodge or deflect the blow, but you don't strike until

he attempts to, and D is the reason for that."

"Why? What's D?"

"D is down. Hit him when his guard is down. If you always defend

until he attacks, he'll always be attacking you when your guard is up, meaning

he's probably not going to be able to hit you. You only attack when his guard

is down... and when is his guard usually down?"

Candace thought a moment. She smiled, "When he attacks."

"Trag. When he attacks, dodge or deflect his blow, then hit him

before he recovers. Don't be too gutsy about it, either. Only hit him if his

guard is WAY down and you have ample time to strike. This is especially good

for getting foes who like to use unnecessarily fancy moves, remember-simple,

basic attacks are best... that's not one of the laws, but it's good to know."

"BWC-TF-AD-R... what's R?"

"Restrain-don't. Don't EVER restrain yourself in a real fight. Don't

EVER take it easy on the enemy. Don't EVER worry about whether you're hurting

them too much. In the end, only one two things matter in a fight, that you

survive, and that you win. Unless it's a practice fight, do whatever, and I

mean WHATEVER, it takes to beat your enemy."

"So, I just totally disregard the life and limb of the other guy and

kill him?"

"Trag."

"That's awful!"

"If he's on the ground and he's already beaten, you don't have to

finish him off, but don't hold anything back while he's still kicking. Does

that make sense?"

"I throw everything I've got at him and win, no matter how bad he gets

hurt. If I beat him and what I did didn't kill him, fine, he survived. If he

didn't, doesn't matter."

"Trag."

"So let's see... BWCTFADR. B is for better, don't fight someone

better than you. W is for win, win first, then fight. C is cocky, don't get.

T is for think, as in don't. F is for focus, A is for attack, don't-only

defend. D is for down, hit him when his guard's down, and R is restrain,

don't restrain yourself. Did I get all that?"

"Trag, trag you did. Repeat that to yourself over and over and don't

forget it. No matter what your skill level, if you can master BWCTFADR, you

will be a great warrior."

"Cool, I guess..."

"EENMTSLST."

"Whoa, what?"

"It's another acronym. It lists the basic targets you want to hit on

most opponents. Any hit is good, but hitting them in one of these weak spots

will do much more damage than normal, maybe even disable them."

"What do the letters stand for?"

"Ears, eyes, nose, mouth, throat, stomach, especially the sternum,

legs, between them, shins, toes."

"I don't know if I can remember all of that."

"Just hit 'em where it hurts."

"Gotcha."

"The best places to hit are the throat and the sternum. If you hit

their throat and break their Adam's apple, it'll kill them. Even if you don't

break it, it'll knock the wind out of them. Same with the sternum. If you

hit it hard it'll knock the wind out of them. If you really score a good hit

it might even temporarily paralyze them, which pretty much ends the fight in

your favor."

"Okay..."

"Last thing I need to teach you... how to use that swordspear."

Candace was still holding it. She had it planted on the ground next

to her like a flagpole.

The Alion continued, "Tell me, what's the greatest strength of the

swordspear?"

Candace looked it up and down, "Uh... it's sharp?"

"Not quite... hm... what's it's greatest weakness?"

"That it's twenty feet long and too heavy to swing?"

The Alion grinned, "I thought you might say that. It's length is, in

fact, it's greatest STRENGTH, even if it makes it unwieldy. Because of how

long it is, you can always stay out of your opponent's striking range, unless

he has a gun, of course..."

"So I don't have to get close to hit him?"

"Right. You can hit him long before he gets close enough to hit you,

and if he's getting too close for comfort, you can simply fall back."

"So to fight with a swordspear, I stay away from the other guy and hit

him with the far end?"

"Right."

"Great, what else?"

"That's all for now, you need to get out of here, but real quick..."

The Alion ran over to a bush and started digging around in it. He pulled out

a suit of what looked like chain mail and pulled it over himself. He returned

to Candace clad in heavy metal.

"...let's practice BWCTFADR and try out that swordspear."

Candace lowered her spear into a better fighting position and got into

an improvised combat stance, "Okay... but won't you get hurt?"

The Alion punched his chain mail, "That's what this is for!"

"Okay then..."

"Ready?"

"Sure..."

"No you're not, what's first?"

"Huh? Oh, right, BWCTFADR."

"Trag, what's first?"

"Don't fight someone better than you unless you have to."

"For our purposes, you have to fight with me. What's next?"

"Win... believe I can win."

"Do you?"

"Sort of..."

"There's no sort of, you can always win..."

"But only if I don't get cocky."

"Trag, excellent!"

"T is don't think, which I'm doing right now, F is focus-"

"Stop there!"

"Huh?"

"Notice you're already doing the first four things... after B."

"Huh..."

"It's easier than it sounds, huh? By the time you're in you combat

stance and facing the enemy, you've already done most of BWCTFADR."

"Yeah..."

"Remember how this feels, and start every fight like this. Once the

fight starts, you won't have time to go through all the steps, you'll only

have time for the last three."

"Don't attack, defend, hit him when his guard is down, and don't hold

back."

"Trag. Now are you ready?"

"I think so."

"You'd better be!" the Alion suddenly charged full on at Candace,

"'Cause if you're not, you're dead!" She squealed and ran backwards,

instinctively swinging her swordspear at him. The swing connected when he was

about six feet away. He tried to block it with his mailed arm, but Candace turned

hard and forced him into the ground.

"Oof! Good, good!" the Alion cried, "Just like that! That's how you

use a swordspear."

Candace raised her swordspear and let him stand. He walked away from

her a little and continued, "Now, once more, but we won't go through the

BWCTFADR steps this time. I'm just going to attack and you'll need to have

done them already."

"All right..."

"Ready? Go!"

He charged. Candace panicked slightly and started to run, trying to

remember what BWCTFADR was... until she remembered how it felt and realized

that was unnecessary. She ran backwards and swung her swordspear at him.

She almost connected, then he ducked underneath it and sprang into the air,

opening his bat wings and flying at her.

Candace screeched but nonetheless had the good sense to keep her eye

on her opponent. She jumped to the side and avoided the attack. As her foe

landed, only a couple arms lengths away, Candace remembered something he'd

said earlier about how to beat guys who liked to use unnecessarily fancy

moves.

As he stood up and turned to face her, Candace swung the backside of

her swordspear forward and stabbed him in the gut, getting a satisfying,

"BLOO-uf!" from him as she did.

She grinned, "How was that?"

"Good, but you forgot R."

"I did? What's-"

"You should've hit me again after that first poke, and if my guard had

still been down... again! Remember, don't restrain yourself."

"Right."

"Anyway, I think I've taught you what you need to know. It's time to

get you out of here and away from these marauders."

"Who are they? And why are they trying to... torture me or whatever?"

"I can't tell you that. You have to go now," he pointed to the other

side of the clearing, "Straight through those trees you'll find a path that

goes to the top of the mountain. There's someone up there who'll take you

back to Kilisyth!"

Those were the sweetest words Candace had heard all day, "Oh, gosh,

that's wonderful," she said exhaustedly, "Thank you so much."

Candace trudged to the other side of the clearing, she was about to go

into the trees when she stopped and looked back at the Alion.

"By the way... who are you?"

"Doesn't matter! I think I hear them coming, go! Hurry!"

Candace listened. She didn't hear anything, but she dashed off into

the trees. She'd run about thirty feet when she heard the Alion's voice

calling after her.

"Take heart, Candace of Earth! You're already a great warrior, and

never let anyone tell you otherwise! Good luck!"

Candace did take heart. She smiled, straightened up and walked

faster.

"I've gotten this far. Maybe, just maybe, I'll make it all the way."

she muttered.

She walked for another minute. Pretty soon she saw a dirt path

through the trees. Just as she stepped out of the undergrowth and onto the

path, she did a double take.

"Hey, how did he know my name?"

"Behold! I, the great Mijjim, will now make all of you disappear!

Abra kadabra alakazam!"

The Tkpxzv guards just stared at him like he was an idiot. Jim held

his magic guy stance for about five seconds, getting no results.

"AHEM, I said, I, the great Mijjim, will now make ALL of you

DISAPPEAR!"

The Tkpxzv were unmoved.

"I SAID, I, the great Mijjim, will NOW, make ALL OF YOU, dis-ap-PEAR!"

"Someone must be trying to break in, and they must be using this guy

as a decoy," one of the Tkpxzv observed in his tongue.

"Quick! Get everyone on alert! Search the grounds!" another Tkpxzv

ordered, in their language.

The guards broke ranks and scattered across the grounds, searching for

the intruders. Meanwhile, Stacy, the President, and the Priest all came out

of the bushes in front of the gate.

"Wow..." the President said.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Stacy said bluntly.

They were in front of the Capitol Building. Jim had come up with an

idea that, to everyone else present, sounded totally idiotic, to get past the

guards and get inside.

They had already agreed that Stacy and the President would be the

only two to go inside (it's hard to sneak around with four people). They took

off and ran straight for the front door. They came to it, opened it, and ran

inside, into the front lobby.

They didn't stop there. The President aimed directly for the

staircase that led to her office. The lobby was crawling with Tkpxzv, but

none of them noticed Stacy and the President until they were already halfway

through the room, and none of them got the sense to chase them until they had

reached the stairs.

"KLRTW! KLRTW!" one of the Tkpxzv yelled. Stacy figured he probably

meant "STOP!", but she wasn't about to do that. She and the President charged

up the stairs, easily outrunning their foes. Once they hit the landing, they

found a hallway guarded by still more Tkpxzv, about six, to be exact, one at

each door, or three on each side of the hall. The President's door was, of

course, all the way at the END of the hallway.

Stacy and the President didn't miss a beat. Stacy and the President

pulled out some rubber bands, stretched them on their fingers and shot them

at the two nearest guards, aiming for their eyes. The two guards both got hit

in their multi-optics and instinctively brought their ropes to their wounded

eyes, which ropes were, as Stacy and the President had correctly guessed,

intertwined with the zapper/disintegrator weapons the Tkpxzv liked so much.

The two Tkpxzv fried themselves on the spot.

The other four guards jumped and then started running toward Stacy

and the Candasaur, ropes raised high. Stacy shot a band between the Tkpxzv,

who both tried to block it and ended up touching each other and crumbling to

dust. The last two Tkpxzv wised up, opened the doors to their respective

rooms, ran inside, threw their respective windows open and jumped out, though

Stacy and the President didn't see that last part.

The hallway was clear, and a good thing, too, because the guards from

the lobby were reaching the top of the staircase. Stacy and the President

bolted for the President's office. The dashed inside and locked the door

behind them. They immediately ran to the President's desk and started

rummaging through the drawers. They had only been at it a few seconds when

they heard the guards trying the door. Finding it locked, they started

banging on it instead.

"It won't take them long to break that down," the President muttered

frantically.

Stacy spoke, "I'm really wondering if running straight in was such a

great idea. I was thinking it might be a really good idea because it sounded

like a really bad one, but-"

SMASH! The Tkpxzv guards crashed through the door and flung their

ropes out at the intruders. Luckily, the President found the paper with the

code right at that moment, and she and Stacy stood up and dashed for the window.

The Tkpxzv were so close behind them that they didn't bother to look at what

was beneath them before they did.

As they fell, they saw three Tkpxzv beneath them, awaiting them with

open ropes. The two girls screamed as they fell towards certain frying death.

Just before they hit, two Candasaurs (Jim and the Priest) charged up behind

the Tkpxzv, heads lowered, and rammed two of the guards, knocking them over

and also giving the President and Stacy somewhere to land. The two landed on

the Tkpxzv guards' backs and dived away from the third one's ropes.

Recovering quickly, Stacy and the President got on their feet and ran after

Jim and the President, who were already halfway back to the gate.

By now the whole area was alerted to their presence, and almost all

the Tkpxzv came running out of their different positions to catch Stacy and

the President. Unfortunately for them, Stacy and the President were already

too far ahead, and the gate had been left unattended so... they got away.

Once out of the yard, the four of them charged through the bushes,

back out into the city, and, after running for a good ten minutes, dashed down

another alleyway and rested. They sat against the wall of one of the

buildings and caught their breath. Only one thing was said while they rested,

and it was Stacy repeating what she'd said earlier.

"Once again, I can't believe that actually worked."

Candace dashed up the mountainside, desperately trying to reach

whoever was going to pick her up at the top of the mountain before more Alion

bandits (or whoever they were) caught up to her.

To her surprise, she got all the way to the summit before she hit

trouble... but she still hit trouble.

The path climbed out of the forest and cut straight up a rock field

before reaching the summit. Candace ran and panted and climbed, realizing she

was almost there. She crested the peak and saw a glorious sight.

Candace the Candasaur.

"Candace!" Candace of Earth cried, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Look out!" the Candasaur screamed.

Something swooped out of nowhere and backhanded Candace in the jaw.

She went tumbling down the rocks. She stuck her spear into the ground and

caught herself before she had gone far. She groaned and sat up. The thing

suddenly slammed down on top of her.

Predictably enough, it was an alion, only this one was covered head to

toe in body armor. It pinned her to the ground and lunged at her throat. She

grabbed it's mandibles and pushed against them, trying to prevent the monster

from biting her head off. She suddenly remembered her one physical edge

against these aliens-she was bigger than they were. Hanging on to the

mandibles, she threw herself forward and got to her feet... sort of. The

rocks gave out from under her and she went sliding, then tumbling down the

mountainside with the alion and a bunch of rocks coming after her. The alion

wrenched free from her grasp and took flight.

Candace thrashed and managed to get herself straight again. She looked up the

mountain, then at the alion, then back up the mountain.

The top. She had to get to the top. The top meant life. Anything

less was death. She saw the Alion swooping back down toward her. She began

scrambling up the mountain, trying to get to the summit before the creature

got to her.

It roared and dived at her. She tried to roll to the side, but it

guessed her move and needled her through the stomach with its jaws.

Candace felt it. She felt the hard bone drive through her. She felt

herself seize up. Her mouth hung open in a silent scream.

That's it. I'm dead. I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, she thought. She

was so shocked that she didn't even feel the pain. But she did feel the

alion's mouth closing over her stomach, cutting through the flesh. She felt

it's hot breath, saw it savage eyes...

She suddenly lunged forward, grabbed it's mandible and yanked it

straight out of her stomach. Saw blood and bits of... whatever go flying from

the wound, but she didn't stop. She yelled to the sky, flung the alion up

over her and threw him back down, mandible-first, into her knee.

SNAP!

The beast shrieked in agony as Candace snapped it's mandible in half.

She threw him away, fell onto all fours and, with a roar, barreled up the

slope. She barely registered the alion's screaming, or the ridiculous amount

of blood she was losing, or Candace the Candasaur's cheering... actually... it

didn't really sound like cheering... actually-it sounded like-

The world started to focus around Candace, and the Candasaur's words

finally came clear.

"You broke his mouth! You crazy redheaded maniac you smashed his

mandible!"

"He tried to eat me!" Candace of Earth screamed back.

"But he wouldn't have! It was all a test!"

"Test, what are you talking about?"

"Candace, you just maimed Xosizi!"

Candace froze. A bunch of wild emotions ran through her. Then she

looked down the mountain at Xosizi, who was now rubbing his broken mandible

and... she couldn't believe it. He was laughing. Laughing. At her. At the

whole thing. Candace looked back up at the Candasaur. It all made sense now.

"Guard of Death and Life training?" Candace of Earth gasped.

"Yep," Candace replied.

Candace looked back down the mountain.

"You JERK!" she screamed at Xosizi, "You punched a hole through my

stomach for training! I swear I-!"

"Relax, Candace," Candace the Candasaur coaxed, "There's a medical

crew right here, they'll fix you right up!"

"Relax? Relax! He just... just... I'm bleeding flipping buckets and

guts right now, huh?"

The Candasaur nodded. Candace of Earth looked down at her gut, and

back at the Candasaur, who grimaced painfully.

Candace of Earth's eyes rolled up in her head, and she collapsed.

"Candace, you get one hundred percent for the last 'R' in BWCTFADR,"

Yhixthyi laughed.

That was his name. The alion that taught Candace the rules of combat.

"No restraint? Xosizi does too," Candace growled. The Alions'

advanced medical technology had already healed the massive injury her mentor

had given her, but she was still resting in their hospital (which was a fairly

nice mud building back in Kilisyth). She still had a lot of blood to recover.

Yhixthyi laughed some more. "He didn't exactly go easy on you, did

he?"

Candace laughed bitterly, "Not at all."

He chuckled. "You're a great warrior, Candace of Earth, and don't you

forget it!"

Candace groaned and flopped her head back down on the fluff, "If you

say so."

Yhixthyi got up and left the room, leaving Candace alone. She was

trying hard not the hate Xosizi. She was the one that had asked to be a Guard

of Death and life, after all...

Candace heard footsteps. She looked up and saw none other than Xosizi

the Alion walk in. His mandible was back in place now, though it had a scar

where Candace had snapped it.

"Oh my gosh, you?" Candace groaned.

"Mad at me, are you?" Xosizi said.

Candace sat up and pulled up her shirt to show him the giant scar on

her stomach.

"Really? Really? For a training exercise?" she griped.

"The medics were right there. I had to simulate real combat."

"Simulate? That WAS real combat!"

"Nothing teaches you like the real thing, besides, you smashed my jaw,

too. I think we're pretty even."

"Uh huh."

"Look at it this way, Candace. Most Guards of Death and Life endure

five years of hell. You only had to endure five HOURS."

"If I'd known what was coming I would never have volunteered for it."

"Ah, Trag. That's why we didn't say anything to you. We didn't want

you to bail. You see, a normal Guard of Death and Life has five years to

prepare for what you went through. What you did today was a normal Guard's

entry test... his final exam, if you will. According to your prophecy,

however, it seems we only have a few days, so..."

"You just threw me out there and hoped I'd live."

"Well, you were never in any, um... MORTAL danger... the medics were

nearby the whole time, and we're all trained not to hit vitals..."

"So sadistic..." Candace whined.

"You asked for it..." he replied.

"I did..."

"Do you regret it?"

Candace paused at this. Did she?

"No way," she replied.

Xosizi grinned, "Didn't think so."

"I kicked some major butt that I never would have thought I could

today," she said.

"Trag. You sure kicked mine. Or my mouth. Man... I got owned by a

rookie warrior today. I must be getting rusty..."

Candace smiled and laid back down, "So Xosizi... what happens

tomorrow?"

"Candace is going to give you music lessons in the morning... then

I'll teach you some more warfare in the afternoon... and at night you'll be

honored as our newest Guard of Death and Life."

Candace showed Xosizi her scarred, once torn-up arms, "Will there be

more of this, when we train tomorrow?"

Xosizi chuckled and shook his head, "No... that's done. That was your

final exam and you passed. You're in the Guard. We'll just be going over

boring technical stuff so you can understand the army tomorrow."

Candace sighed, "Boring sounds great."

Phineas couldn't sleep. Partly it was because Sirius was still up

(two Earth days), but it was also because he wanted to know where Candace was.

As he tossed and turned, the thoughts started to gel in his head... and then

he finally got it. He'd kind of guessed it before, but he hadn't had the

connecting data so he had refused to accept it. As he reviewed it now,

though, he realized, missing links or not, that was probably what had

happened.

"She's on Tizilidai," he whispered to himself, "I'm not sure how she

got there exactly, but if she was with the Alions, that's where they would

have gone."


	5. Chapter 5: The Flaw in the Plan

Chapter 5: The Flaw in the Plan

After he got up, Phineas immediately called the governor of Sirius and

informed him of Candace's whereabouts. He told him that during the Battle of

Trisaria she had figured out his Discourager Ray game, and that she had almost

stopped him (by shooting him, no less.) He warned the governor that if she

was indeed on Tizilidai, she might convince the Alions to hit the Discourager

Rays first and thus ruin their attack strategy. Although she may had already

warned the Alions of the rays, he told the governor it would be safer if she

was "removed" before the fighting started. The governor agreed to let him

lead a small, covert operation on Tizilidai to get rid of her, but that he

wanted the Discourager Rays done first. After that Phineas went and got

Isabella, and the two of them began assembling the rays as quickly as possible

so they could begin carrying out their plan, which they concocted as they

worked.

"Okay, so, assuming she's actually there, how do we find her before

the attack starts?" Isabella asked.

"Easy," Phineas said excitedly, "We're going to get past the Alion

defenses by flying in with a ship disguised as one of their vessels. Once in

the atmosphere, I'll run a planet-wide scan for any life form with a DNA

structure similar to mine..."

"And the only life form that might be like that would be Candace, huh?"

"Exactly. Then we land nearby and find her... and we go from there."

"It'll be dangerous."

"Yeah, but it's better than sitting around here making these guns."

"True."

"Before any of that though, we have to finish these rays and build a

replica of an Alion Sphere Blaster. Isabella, I know what we're gonna do

today!"

"So, what now?" Stacy was still in the alley with the Candasaurs.

"We need to get to the Recruits' bunker. There's a radio there set to

call all of them at once," the President replied.

"Is it guarded too?" Bob asked.

"I don't know," the President said, "It had a big weapons cache, so

it's either guarded or it's been ransacked and left."

"We'll hope for the second one," Stacy said.

The four of them began working their way through the city, sticking to

back roads and alleys to avoid the Tkpxzv. They reached the bunker late in

the afternoon.

"There's two guards," said the President. She was looking around a

street corner and at the bunker's entrance.

"Just two?" Stacy asked.

"That's all I can see, anyway."

"How do we get past them? Is there a back door or something?"

The President snorted, "It's a bunker. A fortress. They only want

one way for attackers to get in."

"So we gotta go in the front?"

"Yep."

"All right," Stacy said, "I'll distract them, then the President can

run in and relay the message. How long do you need, President?"

"Give me like five minutes."

"All right, I'll do my best."

"What do we do?" Jim asked for him and the priest.

"Warn me when the guards come back," the President responded.

A moment later, Stacy walked out from behind the building, threw a

rock at the guards, started yelling at them, then high-tailed it down the

street. They got mad and chased her, but their plunger feet and heavy bodies

made them too slow to catch up. Stacy made sure to stay close enough to make

them think they had a chance, however. She led them down the road and by the

street the others were hiding on. Once the guards were past, the President

dashed to the bunker doors, input the code to unlock them, and went inside.

Stacy kept an eye on her watch. The Tkpxzv weren't very fast, but

running from them was slowly tiring her out. She really needed to exercise.

She kept them after her for a full five minutes, then sprinted off as fast as

she could and left them way behind. She turned down a road and worked her way

back to the street the Candasaurs had been hiding on. She found all three of

them there, waiting for her.

"Didja get ahold of them?" Stacy panted.

"Yep," the President said, smiling triumphantly, "They're meeting us

at their old training camp on CandyMountain at midnight tonight."

"Where's CandyMountain?"

The President pointed down the street to the west where a mountain

stood off in the distance, "It's that one."

"I see."

"It's a long walk. We'd better get moving."

Jim groaned as the four of them began clomping their way to their next

objective.

"So Candace, what do you already know about music?"

"I can play any instrument that starts with the letter 'B' and I can

sing... pretty well, like, I've sung on stage before."

"Yeah? Let's hear a song."

"You want me to sing something or play something?"

"Can you do both at once?"

"Yeah..."

"Hm... I'll be back."

Candace (the Candasaur) left a moment. She was giving Candace her

"first" music lesson at her house in the town. She brought back an instrument

that Candace immediately recognized as a guitar.

"Can you play this?" the Candasaur asked.

Candace was beginning to wonder if these lessons would even be

necessary, "Give me that," she replied.

Candace of Earth took the guitar, stood up, then, loud and clear, both

sung and played "Life is a Highway." She sang every word, kept perfect time,

nailed every pitch and played every note without making a single mistake. She

finished the entire song then put the guitar down and looked at Candace.

"How was that?" she asked.

The Candasaur stared at her in slack-jawed awe.

"Judging by the stare I'd say I was either really good or really

terrible."

"You were incredible!" the Candasaur exclaimed, "You're better than I

am! WAY better! You're probably the best musician on this whole flipping

planet... though, since it's full of Alions, that's not necessarily saying

much..."

"Hm... so are the lessons already done?"

"I... guess. I don't know, the Heavens apparently wanted me to teach

you something..."

"Maybe you should teach me something about Alion music."

The Candasaur laughed bitterly. She reached into a nearby bag and

pulled out a palm-sized speaker ball with a small knob on one side.

"Listen," Candace turned the knob.

A horrible cacophony of incoherent banging, spitting, trumpeting and

twanging blasted forth from the ball.

"Ouch."

"Basically. They're excellent warriors but terrible musicians."

The Candasaur turned the speaker off, "I don't know what to teach

you."

The two of them sat there on the Candasaur's front steps. Her house

was quite a bit nicer than Xosizi's. It was a lot more like a log cabin than

a mud hut. It had the blue-silvery forest right in back of it, and it sat on

a hill overlooking the neighborhood.

"Ho up there!"

The two Candaces looked down the trail leading to the house and saw

Xosizi walking up toward them.

"Hey!" Candace of Earth yelled, waving.

They waited for a moment for Xosizi to get closer.

"What you two up to? You don't look like you're playing music," he

said when he was close enough.

"She's too good Xosizi! There's nothing for me to teach her!" the

Candasaur said.

"Trag?"

"Trag. Candace, show him what you just showed me."

"Okay..." Candace of Earth replied. She got up and sang the song

again, doing just as well as she had the first time.

When she finished, Xosizi scratched his Alion chin for a bit, then

said, "Teach her that old stupid Alion warrior song."

"Huh? Why?"

"She might actually be able to put it to a good tune."

"What are you talking about?" Candace of Earth asked.

The Candasaur answered, "Long ago, the ancient warrior city of the

Alions was about to fall to the forces of the false god Raxaat. The warriors

had fought long and hard, but they were hopelessly outnumbered. To make

matters worse, their captains had all died, and they had finally lost hope and

they were fleeing from their enemies. As they ran, one of the warriors looked

back at his city, the last bastion of freedom on Tizilidai, and saw it burning.

As he looked, he remembered his life there, and cried out in agony, lamenting

the city, his friends, his family, and lamenting the fall of his home to

tyranny."

"But... I thought that city-" Candace of Earth began.

"Hold on, I'm not done. As he cried in anguish, his cries began to

turn to song. At first it was just kind of this incoherent, you know,

screaming, but it slowly started to become something sweet and strong. As he

sang, his fellows began to notice, and they took up the song with him. One by

one they all began to sing about their homes, their lives and the liberty they

had enjoyed. First they lamented their loss, then they wished for their

city's return, then they asked the heavens for it's return, then, finally,

they sang that they would not flee, but that they would stand, and save their

city. They sang that their free city would never fall, as long as one of them

remained to protect it. They turned as one upon their enemies and, singing

for strength, fought them for three days. They lost many brave warriors, but

they fought for so long and fought so hard that their enemies, though they

still completely outnumbered them, finally began to flee because of sheer

exhaustion. The warriors chased after their enemies, slaying them one by one,

until they had run down most of them, and killed all of their wicked, lying

generals. The cities of the false gods never recovered from the defeat, and

the warriors were ultimately able to conquer the remaining cities and free

Tizilidai from tyranny."

"Wow. They didn't cover that part in the initiation," Candace of

Earth said.

"They didn't want to have to sing the song," Xosizi said.

"Why?"

"No one knows what the tune was," the Candasaur said, "Everyone knows

the words, but no one knows the tune. Alion musicians have been trying to

make a good-sounding tune for it for years... but, as you heard earlier..."

"They're not any good with music," Candace of Earth said.

"Right."

"So you want me to take the song and put it to music?" Candace asked

Xosizi.

"It seems like a challenge worthy of your skill," he replied.

"Well, all right, how's the song go?"

It was a long song. Candace basically spent the rest of the morning

just trying to learn the words.

Later on Xosizi took her down to the town's combat yard to teach her

a bit about military procedures and tactics. The yard wasn't much more than

a packed mud field with a mud shed full of weapons. A bunch of

other Alions were there, sparring with each other on different parts of the

field. Xosizi called them all together when he arrived, and he told them they

were going to teach Candace how to march. Xosizi marched them and Candace

around for a long time, all the while talking about how important discipline

was and how you were never supposed to run unless you were ordered to and how

you always had to follow orders no matter what. This was a bit of a sticking

point for Candace, and she brought it up while they marched.

"Xosizi, what if the orders clearly won't work, or-"

"Shut up! You're in ranks!" he replied.

She ignored him, "Like, what if they say to run straight at a line of

machine guns or something?"

"Shut up! You're in ranks!"

"And you're training me! Answer my question!" Candace retorted.

"Shut up or you get court martialled!" Xosizi barked.

"I don't even know what that means!" Candace yelled.

"Of course you don't, HALT! PA-rade HESS!"

The unit stopped and fell into a more comfortable position with their

legs slightly apart and their hands behind their backs.

"To answer this insubordinate little excuse for a soldier, we're going

to play a game!" Xosizi said, "You may have played it when you were all little

boys and girls. It's called Take the Hill! As you probably all know, except

for this orange-headed stick-neck here, Take the Hill has one smaller team in

a fortified position on top of the hill, and a larger team at the bottom of

the hill who has to take the fort. The game ends when all the defenders are

driven out of the fort, or when all the attackers are dead, but we're going to

have a little twist this time!"

"What's that?" Candace asked.

"You get to attack the fort all by yourself!" Xosizi replied.

"Of course. I'd stop talking if you'd just answer the question, you

know..."

"Next time wait 'till you're not at attention! Fall out! Go get a

pile of weapons out of the shed and head over to Yanzwath hill!"

Candace was a little worried now, "These are dummy weapons, right?"

she asked Xosizi.

"Heck if I care, stick-neck," he replied, "By the way, I'll be picking

your weapons out for you. You just stand here and look pretty, okay?"

Candace gave him a dirty look but felt strangely reassured. She

didn't think Xosizi would actually let her get killed... probably...

A few minutes later Candace and Xosizi were out of the combat yard and

at the base of a fairly steep, grassy, fifty-foot hill. The other Alions were up at

the top, erecting barricades and positioning heavy weapons to shoot Candace with.

"So, stick-neck, here's what I got for ya," Xosizi said rudely. He

handed her an Alion rifle, a helmet, a reflective bulletproof vest, a canteen,

some alien-looking grenades, a knife, some rope, some binoculars and a radio.

Then he went over to the woods, found a large boulder and rolled it out to the

bottom of the hill.

"You have to take the hill with only the stuff I've given you, and you

have to keep trying until you win, or I get bored."

"Great," Candace groaned.

"It will be," Xosizi said, grinning, "You ready up there?"

The Alions on the hilltop shouted back that they were.

"Good! Candace, that rock is your cover, get behind it."

Candace went and crouched behind the boulder, fingering her gun.

"All right, TAKE THAT HILL, SOLDIER!" Xosizi screamed at Candace.

Candace bit her lip nervously, then started peeking around the

boulder...

And almost got vaporized by a storm of gunfire from the top of the

hill. She yanked her head back before anything hit her. She was pleased to

see that she was, in fact, facing a bunch of rubber bullets. They'd hurt, but

they wouldn't kill her.

"What are you waiting for? TAKE THE HILL!" Xosizi roared

Candace really didn't know how that was possible.

"GO SOLDIER!" Xosizi yelled.

Candace sighed and rolled her eyes. She pulled out her grenades,

threw one over the rock, let it blow up (it made a blast of compressed air and

smoke), then ran out from behind the rock and charged the hill, hoping the

smokescreen would give her a chance to get up.

It didn't work. The Alions fired through the smoke and smashed her

with a couple dozen rubber bullets. Candace fell back from the force of the

shots, then turned over and scrambled back behind her rock, getting hit a lot

more times.

"Ow," she growled.

"You sorry excuse for a soldier! You failed! TAKE THAT HILL!"

"How?" she retorted.

"TAKE THE HILL, SOLDIER!"

Candace stood up, yelled, and charged up the hill gun blazing. She got

shot a lot, but she kept running until-

"You're dead! Get back behind that rock and try again!" Xosizi

yelled.

Candace ran back behind the rock, getting shot a whole lot more.

"TAKE THE HILL!"

"I can't! It's impossible!"

"Doesn't matter! You're a soldier you do what you're told! TAKE THE

HILL!"

"If you're trying to make me see that I have to obey no matter what,

it's not working! It's proving that I should DIS-obey!"

"TAKE THE HILL!"

Candace groaned and looked at the stuff Xosizi had given her. She

didn't know what to do. She pulled out the binoculars and tried to look

around the rock, with predictable results. She pulled back and looked at the

shattered binoculars.

"Could've been my eyes," Candace said dully.

"TAKE! THE! HILL!"

"Forget it! I quit!" Candace yelled. She started walking away from

the rock...

Need I say more? She got about fifty new welts before diving back

behind the rock.

Trapped.

"Xosizi, if I get out of this I swear I'll-!" she began.

"TAKE THE HILL!"

Candace ignored him. She just sat there numbly. She couldn't tell if

Xosizi was trying to teach her something or if he was trying to punish her.

She thought about the question she'd asked earlier... maybe that would give

her a clue. She had asked if she had to obey even if what she'd been ordered

to do obviously wouldn't work...

Xosizi had recreated that scenario perfectly.

"All right, Xosizi, I get it!" Candace called, "You always obey no-"

"TAKE THE HILL!"

"I said-!"

"TAKE THE #*$! HILL!"

Candace growled and face palmed. Maybe he was just punishing her.

"Candace, you got yourself into this, you've got to find a way to get

yourself out," she muttered.

Candace sat and thought to herself while Xosizi continued screaming at

her. Some of the Alions at the top started heckling her too. Candace did her

best to block them out.

"C'mon, Candace. What would you do if this were real?" she said to

herself. She tried to imagine herself on a real battlefield (which wasn't too

hard, in this case) with real guns pointed at her, and only having one life to

lose.

She sat there, back to the rock wondering how on Earth she could

escape.

"There's no way. If I leave this rock I'm dead. Someone has to come

and save me. I need-"

No.

She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid. Was that really it?

Candace pulled out her radio and spoke into it, loudly so Xosizi

could hear.

"Central command! I need an air strike on Yanzwath Hill, now!" she

yelled.

She put the radio down and waited. Xosizi just stood there.

"Well? Was that it?" she called.

"TAKE THE HILL!" he shouted.

"Ah, c'mon!" she shouted back, "That would totally have-"

Candace stopped. She heard a low roar coming over the trees. She

looked up.

"No way... is that?"

Suddenly, a Sphere Blaster (Alion spacecraft) flew in right over the trees.

It flew over the hill and dropped two bombs on it. The Alions at the top

screamed as two epic blasts of compressed air and smoke blasted their fort to

pieces and sent barricades and bodies flying into the air.

Candace blinked. She shrugged and stood up. Two Alions face planted

next to her, along with a ton of random junk and shrapnel. Candace let out a

war yell and charged up the hill at the ruined fort. She ran all the way to

the top, jumped the remains of a barricade and ran to the peak.

She stood up tall and yelled, "This hill is mine! Victory and glory

to me!"

Xosizi laughed. The other Alions (who were scattered in random

positions all over the hill) growled. Xosizi ran up the hill and stopped

beside her.

"Well done, Candace!" he said, "What'd you learn?"

"Air power beats ground power?" she replied.

"No, what's the answer to your question?"

"What question? Oh, yeah, uh... I guess... they might tell you to do

something... but they don't necessarily care how you do it."

"Trag. Don't think about whether or not you can do it. There's

always a way. You just have to figure out what it is. Whatever you need to

do, make it happen," he leaned in close to Candace's ear, "And between you and

me, that's the difference between a soldier and a general. A soldier takes

orders. A general sees an objective and figures out how to obtain it."

"Cool. Where'd that spaceship come from?"

"We have a drone on hand for training exercises like this."

"Call of Duty guys would love this place," Candace remarked.

"C'mon, let's get back to the combat yard. I've got something to

show you."

Xosizi gathered up the Alions and they and Candace headed back to the

yard. There Xosizi had them each go to the weapon shed and pull out... a

swordspear (Candace just used her own). Then he told them to go stand in

formation again with the spears pointing up. Once they were all in formation,

Xosizi gave an order.

"Lower the spears!"

They did.

"Okay, Candace, check this out. See what this is doing?" Xosizi said.

"Making a big, pointy wall of nails?"

"Trag. That's how swordspears were used back in the day. Anything

that tried to hit them, at least from the front, was basically toast. Notice

that the spears are so long that the guys in the back can poke them past the

guys in the front and add even more spears to the wall... they need to make

sure the blades are vertical though so they don't cut their comrades."

"Hm... I think I heard of something like this in history class once,

what was it called? A fa-lank? Faylunk?"

Xosizi shrugged. "I don't know what it's called in your language. We

just call it a spear wall. The ancients would use it to block areas while

soldiers with ranged weapons would shoot over their heads and kill their

enemies."

"Impressive. Why are you telling me this?"

"Well, since your weapon is the swordspear, I figured you might as

well know how it's used."

"Okay."

Xosizi continued teaching her as the day wore on. He rattled on about

various commands and taught her different strategies, you know, army stuff.

When night came, Xosizi took Candace to the local barracks where they

and some Alions had a small ceremony and presented Candace with a leather

necklace that had two pendants on it. One was a stone Alion skull, the other

was a lightning-shaped rock. Xosizi explained what they represented as he

draped them over her head.

"The skull means that you are a Guard of Death and Life. The stone is

your Spirit Rock, which is given to initiates when they complete training in

their chosen field."

"Thanks," she replied.

Xosizi turned to the gathered Alions, "Fellow warriors, a salute to

Candace of Earth, Tizilidai's newest Guard of Death and Life!"

The Alions all roared and spat their gooey stuff into the sky.

"Congratulations, Candace, you're official," Xosizi said.

"Gross," she replied.

As the two of them began walking away (the ceremony was over), Candace

spoke.

"So Xosizi, what does it mean, that I'm a Lightning Spirit?"

Xosizi looked at her narrowly, "For you... I'm not sure. Lightning

Spirits usually have quick, forceful personalities... and they burn out really

fast."

Candace frowned, "I think I liked the Fire Spirit better."

"Well see, that's just it," Xosizi said, "I'm not sure you were given

that rock because of your personality. It sounded like your prophecy was

dealing with things that were more... short-term."

"Well, maybe, but why this stone instead of a fire one?"

Xosizi shrugged, "I wonder if you're going to need electricity for

something in the near future. A Spirit Rock isn't just a dead symbol, it's a

useful tool. That rock you have can store more electricity than any battery,

and it can release it whenever you want. It can also draw electricity too

it."

"Like, yank it from a power line?"

"Trag."

"Hm... interesting," Candace said.

They kept talking as they walked. Little did Candace know her night

was soon to get much more "interesting."

"There it is, Isabella, Tizilidai."

Phineas and Isabella had built their fake Sphere Blaster and were now

in sight of the planet of the Alions.

"Wow... it's pretty," she replied, "All blue and silver... where are

all the cities?"

Phineas shrugged, "Alions are pretty different than Candasaurs.

Maybe they all live in the forests or something."

"Hey Phineas, look up ahead!"

In front of them were a few other Sphere Blasters, guarding the area.

Phineas and Isabella sailed right past them without incident.

"How come they're not asking us for ID or anything?"

"The Tkpxzv said that Alions just scan incoming ships. If they're

hostile, they just blow them up without asking any questions."

"So... if our blaster doesn't fool them they'll just blow us up with

no warning?"

"You can kinda see why people stay away from this place."

"Yeah..." Isabella said nervously, "I hope we don't die in a couple of

minutes."

"I'm keeping an eye on the radar. If anyone comes after us, we'll

high-tail it outta here."

BOOM.

The blaster shook as it took a heavy hit to one of it's main

thrusters.

"Good eye," Isabella said sarcastically.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

"I don't get it," Phineas yelled as the blaster started making all

sorts of alarm noises, "There's nothing on the radar!"

"Stealth cloaking?" Isabella guessed.

BOOM! Off went the last thruster, or, that's what the computer said,

anyway.

"Uh, oh," said Phineas.

"That was our last thruster! How do we get out of here now?" Isabella

cried.

"Put on your seat belt."

"What?"

"Put on your seat belt!"

She did. Phineas slapped a button that blasted the cockpit out of the

blaster and sent it hurtling for the planet. An escape pod.

"Hang on, I'm cranking this to full throttle!"

"Phineas, shouldn't we be trying to get away from the planet?"

"The escape pod doesn't-" Right then Phineas cranked the engines up to

full blast and smashed himself and Isabella into the backs of their seats.

The two of them quit talking for a moment as the massive G-forces (and more

than a little nausea) took over. The sudden boost got them ahead of the

pursuing Alion ships for a moment.

"-have enough gas," Phineas finally finished. Isabella didn't seem to

care anymore. She looked sick.

Phineas tapped another button, and the computer said, "Commencing

planet-wide scan."

"Are you scanning for Candace?" Isabella blubbered, "I think we've

got-"

"I'm going to try and crash-land near her. Once we hit the ground, we

need to bail out of the pod and hide before the other ships catch us."

"After that?"

"We find Candace and... remove her."

"You don't want to try and capture her?"

"I don't even think we can in this situation. We need to get rid of

her before the Tkpxzv-"

BAM!

"More flying less talking!" Isabella yipped.

"Good idea," Phineas agreed. He started zigzagging the pod, trying to

evade the Alions' shots.

"Match found. Candace Flynn detected."

Phineas perked up and looked at the scanner, "I knew it!" he said.

"She is here!" Isabella cried.

"She's close, too! Only a couple thousand miles north of here! We

can reach that easy!" Phineas swerved hard and aimed toward a dark blue part

of one of Tizilidai's northern continents.

"And she's in the forest, too! We'll have tons of places to hide!" he

added.

Isabella braced herself and Phineas continued to dodge shots as they

hurtled toward the planet's surface. The pod started to catch fire as it

entered Tizilidai's atmosphere.

"Grab everything you need, 'cause when we hit the ground I'm hitting

the ejection seats!" Phineas said.

He and Isabella both grabbed a radio and a leather water bag, and

Phineas detached the scanner from the control panel. Pretty soon mountains

and forests were coming into view, then treetops... and the instant afterward

the pod crashed.

It slammed into the ground at sub-meteoric speed. Normally anything

hitting the ground that fast would have been vaporized, but the pod was

designed for just such a crash-landing. In a couple of seconds it had smashed

a deep trail straight through the forest over three miles long. It was still

moving at jet-like speed when Phineas hit the eject button and threw him and

Isabella into the air and above the trees. A parachute quickly deployed and

stopped them from ramming full-force into an Alion pine. They glided slowly

into the tree, got caught in it, quickly undid themselves and climbed down.

They saw several Sphere Blasters flying overhead after the escape pod, which

still hadn't quite stopped. The blasters fired at the slowing pod and

completely annihilated it.

"That could've been us," Isabella said shakily.

"Let's get outta here," Phineas said.

The two of them ran away from the tree, which the Sphere Blasters were

soon circling over. Blue lights began shining from the ships and sweeping the

area.

"Their scanning the area for us!" Phineas whispered, "We've got to

find cover!"

He and Isabella quickly surveyed the area and found a large boulder

that they ran and hid under. The scanners swept across the boulder, but the

ships didn't fire. Phineas and Isabella both sighed in relief.

"Now what?" Isabella asked.

"We wait for them to leave."

Candace, Candace, and Xosizi were sitting out on the Candasaur's

porch, relaxing and looking up at the stars, which were just starting to come

out.

"The constellations are different here," Candace of Earth said.

"You thought they would be the same?" Candace the Candasaur asked.

"No, I was just... making an observation."

The Candasaur smiled. Suddenly, her eyes went wide and she pointed,

"Look! A comet!"

All three of them looked up at the fireball. After a moment it turned

and started heading toward them.

"A comet that turns?" Candace of Earth asked.

"That ain't no comet, that's a ship!" Xosizi exclaimed.

Pretty soon they could see other ships flying after it, firing at it.

They watched as it got closer and closer. Eventually they heard an incredible

sonic boom followed by the roar of the ship's thrusters and the blasts from

the pursuers. The whole village got lit up by the fireball as it soared

straight over Candace's house and into the forest beyond. Moments later there

was a deafening crash and a minor earthquake. The pursuers followed after the

rogue craft.

Xosizi turned to the Candasaur, "You got weapons here?"

"Of course," she replied.

"Go get me three rifles and some ammunition... and bring three

radios."

"Already on it, Xosizi," Candace's parents were coming out the front

door, loaded with weapons.

"Good," he replied, "Candace, grab your swordspear."

"What's going on?" Candace asked.

"We're going to inspect the crash site to make sure everyone that was

on that ship is dead."

"Eesh."

Candace grabbed her spear and a gun and all five of them ran off into

the woods. It wasn't long before Candace noticed other Alions combing them as

well. A lot of Alions. It seemed to Candace the whole village was out there

hunting for survivors.

"Is this... normally how you respond to unidentified ships?" Candace

asked Xosizi.

"Trag. This is completely routine," he looked at Candace, "See why no

one wants to mess with us?"

Candace nodded nervously.

"Phineas, I hate to be a pessimist, but-"

"We're gonna die."

"Yeah."

Phineas and Isabella were still under the rock. The ships hadn't

left, oh, no, they'd just called for backup. Now they were scanning

everything, AND the forest was crawling with bloodthirsty Alions.

"You don't think they'd take us prisoners, do you?" Phineas asked.

Isabella shook her head.

"You really SHOULD have gone home when you had the chance," Phineas

said.

"No way, I'm with you... I think," Isabella replied.

"Don't really have a choice, now."

"They've got us trapped. If it wasn't kinda dark they probably would

have killed us already."

They were quiet for a bit. They held their breath as several Alions

walked right past the boulder they were under. They sighed in relief as they

left. After a moment, Phineas chuckled.

"What?" Isabella asked.

"We're so close."

"What do mean?"

He showed her the Candace tracker. An orange dot indicating her

location showed that she was only a hundred yards from their position... and

she was moving toward them.

"She's right there, and we can't get to her," Phineas said, "Unless we

want to get eaten by angry Alions."

Isabella didn't respond, she was peering out at the forest, "Phineas,

look!" she said, pointing.

He looked out and saw, there in the shadows, Candace, along with three

Candasaurs and an Alion.

"Wish I had a gun," Phineas said, "I could just shoot her and be done

with it... though that would probably get us killed, too..."

Isabella thought a moment, "I think I know how to get out of this AND

get Candace."

Phineas looked at her, "Yeah?"

She nodded, she pointed over toward a ridge, barely visible in the

twilight, "When the area's cleared, go get up on that ridge. I'll bring

Candace to you there... alone."

"You will, how?"

"Just watch, but don't move, and don't say anything, all right?"

"Okay..."

Isabella looked out. Candace and her party were fifty feet away.

She took a deep breath, "Here I go," she said. She climbed out from

under the rock, stood up and yelled, "Candace!"

She squealed and just barely ducked before she got shot about twenty

times from as many directions.

"Wait, stop!" Candace shouted, "I know that voice!"

The Alions held their fire. Candace called back, "Isabella, is that

you?"

"Yes!"

"At ease!" Candace yelled. The Alions in the area relaxed.

"Is it safe?" Isabella asked.

"Yeah, come on out."

Isabella emerged from under the rock and walked over to Candace.

"Xanjatha yiza?" the Alion that was with Candace asked.

"It's Isabella. Remember I told you about her?" Candace asked.

"Ja xizi tha?"

"Yeah, Miss Monkey-in-the-Middle."

"That's a nice thing to call me," Isabella said irritably.

"It's accurate," Candace replied.

"That's true."

"Why are you here, Isabella? Actually, did Phineas survive? I was

trying to hit the gun, not him."

Isabella was a little surprised by her concern, but she shook it off

and replied, "Yes, he's alive. A Tkpxzv healed him."

Candace sighed in relief, "Oh good," she said, "I would have felt

terrible if I'd killed him."

"Really? After everything he's done to you?"

"Well, yeah. He's still my brother, isn't he?"

Isabella's insides twisted with guilt. Why couldn't her adversary be

less... innocent? Hurting a jerk isn't hard. Hurting... or KILLING someone

who doesn't deserve it, is.

She brushed her guilt aside and continued, "He has a message for

Tizilidai, and for you, Candace."

"What's that?"

"The Tkpxzv are coming to attack in two days. Their entire force is

going to attack right here so they can have support from Phineas' Discourager

Rays."

Candace and the three Candasaurs' eyes all widened in shock. Candace

of Earth quickly relayed the message to the nearby Alions. A stir went

through them as she did.

"Phineas plans to do the same thing he did on Trisaria, here,"

Isabella continued, "Unless Candace comes and meets him... alone."

Candace relayed the message then asked, "Why does he want me to meet

him? Sounds like another trap."

"Maybe, but that's just it. He doesn't want Tizilidai. He wants you,

Candace. He said that if you come and meet him, he'll ditch the Tkpxzv and

the Alions won't have to face his guns when they attack. You meeting with him

could well save the planet."

Candace relayed the message. The Alion thought a minute than spat

something at Candace.

"Of course it's a trap," she said, "But last time he DID let everyone

else go when I came to him... he might keep his word about the guns," Candace

turned to Isabella, "Fine, I'll go. Where is he at? Under the rock?"

Isabella pointed at the dark ridge, "He went there to set up a homing

beacon for the guns. He asked me to come and find you after we crashed.

"He's under the rock, isn't he?"

"No, he's-"

Candace ignored her and walked right past her to the boulder she and

Phineas had been hiding under. Isabella cringed as Candace ducked down and

looked underneath. She started feeling around.

"Phineas..." she said, "I know you're in there..."

Phineas crawled back as far as he could, trying frantically to avoid

Candace's reaching hand. He had to think of something to throw her off,

quick. As he pushed back, he felt something crawling on his shoulder. He

flipped it off and it landed on Candace's arm.

"I feel something," Candace pulled her arm out and squealed. Some kind

of ten-legged cockroach thing was running up her arm. She swatted it off and

turned back to Isabella.

"All right, he's not there. The ridge then?"

"Let's wait 'till morning," Isabella said, "It'll be easier to see

then."

"Fine," Candace walked over to Xosizi and the Candasaurs and explained

the situation to them, then she turned to Isabella, "Follow us. We're going

to crash at their house tonight," she said, motioning to the Candasaurs.

"All right," she replied.

Xosizi spat something at the other Alions, and they all turned and

started walking back toward the village. Isabella joined Candace's group and

they started back as well.

Meanwhile, Phineas grinned at them from under his rock.

"Good job, Isabella," he said.


	6. Chapter 6: A Tale of Three Meetings

Chapter 6: A Tale of Three Meetings

It was the dead of night. Stacy, the President, Jim and the Priest

all sat on a boulder in a Trisarian forest in the Candasaur recruits'

training ground. They had been there for hours already with nothing to do.

Stacy, and, she suspected, the Candasaurs, were getting both hungry and

thirsty. There was little they could do about that at the moment, however.

They would probably have to wait until they got back to the city to get

anything.

Stacy sighed and looked at her watch. It was three PM back in

Danville. Stacy suddenly wondered if she would ever make it back to Earth.

She'd been so wrapped up in everything that she hadn't thought much about

home.

She shook it off. She had a mission to complete. It was better not

to get distracted.

She continued thinking for a bit. Another thought came to her. She

turned to the President.

"Hey, President, what's your name?" she asked.

"Hm? Oh, wow. We've been around each other all day and I never told

you what my name was. It's Flynnya, and this-" she pointed to the Priest,

"-is my grandpa Triso... you know, you never told me your name either."

"Stacy Hirano," Stacy said.

"And I'm Jim, just in case someone cares," Jim interjected.

"So, Flynnya, what are we gonna do once the soldiers get here?"

"You don't have to do much. I'll tell them the heavens have sent us

more help-you, and give them a little speech to get them to go fight the

Tkpxzv. I might ask you to introduce yourself or something. If I do, just

tell them why you're here and that you want to help them overthrow the Tkpxzv.

Sound good?"

Stacy shrugged, "Sure."

After another half hour or so the first recruit arrived. Soon came

another, and another... it took a couple of hours, but finally all two

thousand of the Candasaur Recruits arrived. Flynnya led them to their old

parade ground so she could address all of them at once. When they arrived,

she stood up on a rock and spoke to them.

"My valiant recruits, defenders of Trisaria and our way of life,

welcome!" Flynnya began, "It is truly an honor to be in the presence of so

many incredible, amazing, yellow-bellied cowards like yourselves!"

Stacy, Jim, Triso, and the insulted recruits all looked up at

Flynnya, who was wearing an extremely fake-looking smile.

"I've been regaled with tales of your great bravery, with stories of

heroics worthy of the Alions of Tizilidai! My favorite part is when you all

ran away when you were on the brink of victory!"

Stacy looked uncertainly at Flynnya, who was definitely not smiling

anymore. She wasn't sure if this was the best way for Flynnya to rally people

to her cause.

Flynnya continued, "That's okay though, because the Alions did it

first!"

The recruits were shifting uncomfortably. Flynnya glared down at them

like an eagle eyeing its prey.

"You're all a bunch of treacherous maggots. You ran when your people

needed you most. Because of your cowardice, thousands of Candasaurs are stuck

in slavery and misery. Because you ran, our great capital city is being run

by b******s from another planet. The music and fun and joy that once rang

through our streets has been snuffed out. In their place are wails of pain

and suffering from your brothers and sisters who you abandoned. Recruits, I

say to you, well done. You should be real proud of yourselves."

There was a long silence. She seemed to be letting her words sink in.

Her speech seemed to have had the desired effect, until...

"Well, where were you, Miss President?" someone shouted.

"Yeah, at least we WENT to the battle!" another one yelled.

"You were trained for combat, I wasn't!" Flynnya retorted.

"With a Pulverizer Cannon you don't NEED training!" a recruit said.

"You're the President! You should've been right out in front!"

"But instead you sent some random alien girl who'd never been in a

fight in her life to lead us!"

"You told us she was a Goddess of Thunder! What happened to that?"

"She was the Candace from the legends! Of course I-" Flynnya tried.

"If she really was the Candace from the legends, then she was clearly

a time traveler, not a goddess!"

"She was a normal person, and you risked her life to save your own!"

"I did not! That wasn't what I intended!" Flynnya cried.

"And then you call us all here, insult us, and expect help?"

"You're soldiers! You ran from a fight! It's-" Flynnya started.

"Yeah? Well guess what? I'm leaving! You can't tell me what to do!"

a Candasaur replied.

"He's right! I'm out, peace!" another yelled.

An angry murmur rose from the recruits and they began to disperse.

"Wait!" Flynnya yelled, "This isn't about me, it's about your people!"

They ignored her and started leaving. Stacy looked up at Flynnya,

who seemed shocked that her speech had backfired so badly. Jim had his face

in his hands. Triso just stared.

Looking back at the recruits, who were filing off into the forest,

Stacy realized that her only chance at saving Candace was quickly slipping

from her grasp. She had to do something, somehow. She stood up and shouted

the first thing that came to mind.

"Please don't go! I need your help!"

The recruits paused, surprised by the new voice. They turned and

looked at Stacy.

"Who are you?" one of them asked.

"Is that another Candace-person?" another wondered.

"My name is Stacy Hirano," Stacy said quickly, feeling the color

rising in her face, "I stowed away on a rocket to get out here and find

Candace. She's my best friend."

A recruit snorted, "Yeah, I'll bet Flynnya told you to say that!"

"Nice try, but we-" another began.

"I ain't pulling no stupid tricks for your President!" Stacy snapped,

"Until yesterday, I didn't even know who she was! I didn't know there had

been a battle, or that Candace had fought in it or anything! I just wanted to

find my friend! She was kidnapped by those big, fuzzy mop things and I came

to space to save her! The only reason I'm standing here talking to you is

because the only way for me to get a ship out of this solar system without

being followed back to Earth is to free this stupid planet! This isn't my

fight, this isn't my war, and I honestly don't care what happens to all of

you! I just want Candace back!"

Stacy stopped, breathing hard and wondering what it was she thought

she was doing. Everyone stared at her, seemingly shocked by the outburst.

"So... if you don't care what happens to us, why would we help you?" a

recruit asked.

"Because we have the same enemy," Stacy replied, "If the mop-dudes go

down, you free your planet and save your people, and I can go get Candace off

of Tiziliwhatsit."

"Is that where she went?" someone asked.

"Where'd you think she went, genius?" another jabbed.

"Please..." Stacy begged, "Help me. Without you I might never see

Candace again!"

A murmur ran through the crowd. As they did, a recruit stepped

forward, carrying her gun. She walked up to Stacy and showed it to her.

"See this?" the recruit said, "It's only got six shots left. I can't

kill twenty thousand Tkpxzv with six shots."

A general murmur of agreement rose from the audience. Almost all of

them were low on ammunition.

"Is there any more?" Stacy asked.

"We didn't have a lot to begin with," the recruit said, "The

Pulverizer Cannons were an Alion experiment... actually, our entire army was

an Alion experiment. They wanted an inexperienced group of soldiers to test

their new guns for them so they could measure the lower levels of their

effectiveness."

"Wait..." Stacy began, "Are you telling me that you're not soldiers?"

"We learned to march, follow orders, and shoot a gun... sort of. We

were never meant to fight a war or save our planet. The Alions were planning

to do that for us... we're basically just a big civilian mob with big, shiny

new weapons."

"But you did so much damage at Red River Bridge!" Jim interjected.

"Candace... heh, heh... set up an ambush," the recruit replied, "She

was no goddess, but I guess she had some natural talent. The Tkpxzv fell for

it and we were able to kill a lot of them, but it was because they were all in

one place... and because we had a lot of ammunition. If we fight the Tkpxzv

now, they literally outnumber us ten to one and we'll get creamed, and even if

we beat their army, what're we going to do about their air force? Our guns

can't hit something that high in the air!"

The recruit put her hand on Stacy's shoulder.

"Friend of Candace, I'm sorry, truly I am, but if there had been a way

for us to retake the city we already would have banded together and done it."

The recruit took her hand off the discouraged Stacy's shoulder and

stepped back into the crowd. Stacy hung her head and everyone stood around

being somber for a while.

"Fine..." Stacy said, "I guess you can only do what you can do."

The Candasaurs muttered in agreement. They slowly relaxed and started

talking to each other and goofing around. Stacy sat on the ground and put

her face in her hand. Flynnya came and sat next to her.

"I tried," Flynnya said, "But if they're not willing I can't make

them."

Stacy didn't answer her. She was fighting back tears. She didn't

want to cry in front of all these aliens. Finally, she vented by letting out

an angry yell and throwing a rock into a puddle leftover from the rainstorm.

It didn't make her feel much better. She stood up and marched over to it,

raising her foot and preparing to stomp it as hard as she could. As she did,

she suddenly stopped. She saw her reflection in the dim moonlight. She

looked sad and angry, but it wasn't that that stopped her...

"What do I look like?" Stacy whispered. She put her foot down and

just stared at herself for a minute.

Flynnya glanced over at her, "Stacy? Everything okay?"

"What do I look like, Candace?" Stacy asked quietly. She looked up

at the oblivious Candasaur recruits, then back at herself. Her eyes started

welling up with tears.

Flynnya got up and walked to her side, "You all right, Stacy?"

"I get it now..."

"Get what?"

Stacy suddenly swung her face up to the sky and yelled, surprising

Flynnya and causing her to jump back.

"Can you hear me, Candace?" Stacy screamed at the stars, "I get it

now! I get your stupid metaphor!" She turned her face down and started

sobbing quietly. The whole group looked at her in confusion.

"Candace was more of a goddess than you all think," Stacy began, "She

had a choice to make too. Back on Earth, her family was kidnapped and held in

a fortress her brother had built that she had no hope of ever penetrating."

Everyone stared at Stacy in silence. She wiped her eyes and looked

out at them.

"I told Candace she couldn't do it. I told her not to try. I told

her she would die if she tried to save her family. I told her she had done

all she could, and that she could give up with no shame. You know what she

said to me?"

No one replied. They just waited.

"She said I was right, and we walked out of her yard to go to my

house. As we walked though, she stopped and looked at her reflection in a

puddle, and she asked me a question that I'll never forget. She said, 'What

do I look like Stacy?' She'd had a pretty rough time-her house had been

destroyed, obviously her family had been kidnapped, and she'd been showering

with a hose-so I told her she looked like a royal teenage bum."

Stacy took a breath, then continued.

"Then she asked me what she would draw if she were to draw a picture

of herself. I told her she'd probably draw a tired rat. She said, 'Yeah, I'd

also draw a coward. A worn-out, beaten, useless teenage girl. Someone who

looked inside an found nothing. Someone who was brought to the fight and gave

up.' I told her she was being too hard on herself. She told me that we all

have a picture to draw. We can draw a loser. We can draw a hero. We can

draw something lame. She said most people don't draw good pictures because

it's harder to draw a good picture than a bad one. She said that most people

compromise and just draw something mediocre, not too good, and not too bad.

They do what they can, and there's no shame in that."

Stacy thought for a moment before she went on.

"She told me that if she gave up then, she would be as good as anyone

else. She would have done what she could... there would be no shame in it.

But if she went back... if she decided to risk it all to do what was right...

she could draw something better. She said that only those who drew a good

picture would truly be happy when it was all over, and she said she was going

to draw the best picture she could, then she turned and went back to the yard

to plan to storm her brother's fortress. I decided she was nuts and I

went home."

"But... she was here, though..." a Candasaur said.

"Well that's just it," Stacy said, "I told her she couldn't do it.

I was wrong. She faced hundreds of guns and mines and giant robots and iron

bars and everything else. She challenged the impossible and she WON. She

beat her brother, she saved her family, and she drew a great picture. She

did was she knew was right."

Stacy was quiet for a moment.

"When she said all that stuff... I didn't get it. It didn't mean

anything to me. I thought she was jabbering a bunch of nonsense... but right

here, right now... I get it. I finally understand what she was saying."

Stacy swallowed, then spoke.

"We all have a picture to draw. We all have a life to live. We all

have choices to make. We can do bad things. We can do good things. Most of

us compromise and just do okay. We get comfortable and do what we can, but

when the universe throws down the gauntlet, we give up. I guess it's no

wonder that things are such a mess... cause only a few of us have any real

courage... but those few that do will be happy, knowing they truly did all

they could... that they drew a great picture."

Stacy didn't say anything for a long time. She just stared at the

ground. Everyone was quiet. Finally, Stacy spoke some more.

"We can't choose what we're given..." she said softly, "We can only

choose what to do with it... and for some reason, this trial was given to us."

Stacy paused, then continued.

"This is your planet. Those are your people. You have been placed

here, at this time, to do this task!"

Stacy looked around at the Candasaurs.

"Will you do it?"

Silence.

"I will."

Stacy turned and looked at Flynnya in surprise.

Flynnya glared at the recruits, "And I DON'T have a pulverizer

cannon."

Stacy looked back at the recruits. The one that had stepped forward

earlier spoke.

"I guess I'm gonna tell my grandkids how six shots killed twenty

thousand Tkpxzv," she said.

"Or how three did," another said.

"Or eight."

"Or two."

"Or none... I'm out!"

One by one, then ten by ten then hundred by hundred the recruits

announced that however many shots they had left were going to wipe out the

twenty thousand Tkpxzv. They continued 'till every last one of them had

spoken.

Stacy smiled, "Good."

"So it stands," Flynnya shouted to the recruits, "We're going to do

the impossible and free Trisaria, or we're going to die trying!"

A murmur ran through the crowd, then someone spoke, "Yeah, but there's

one condition..."

"What's that?" Flynnya asked.

The recruit jabbed his thumb at Stacy, "She's gonna lead us, not you.

You can fall in line like everyone else."

Stacy's gut did a somersault. Flynnya sighed, "Not enough just to

get elected, ya gotta be a soldier too. Sometimes I wonder why I wanted this

job..."

Stacy didn't hear her. She was too busy freaking out about being

made a general against her will, "Hold on, hold on," she said, "I don't know

how to lead an army! I've never been to boot camp or been in the military

or-"

"Stacy," Flynnya sniped, "This is your time. This is your task.

Will you rise to it?"

"Shut up," Stacy groaned.

"I must say, Stacy, I'm impressed. That was the speech _I_ should've

given them. I never would've expected it to come from you, though."

Stacy shrugged, "I guess if Candace can storm a fortress and survive

I can give a speech and inspire... don't think it'll happen again, though..."

"Just a fluke, huh? Only time will tell..."

Ferb and Perry walked down the steps out of the rocket. They had at

last made it to the Sirius star system, and had just landed on the local Tkpxzv

capital planet, Yxpk. Ferb had called in advance and gotten a very short

audience with the governor.

Boy and platypus looked around themselves in wonder. They were in a

sprawling city filled with huge buildings made with crystal and polished

stones. It kind of looked like a futuristic metropolis, only with pretty

rocks instead of chrome, and the buildings weren't as densely packed as one

would have expected from a big city... it was sort of spread out like the

suburbs would be. They also noticed it was eerily quiet, and that there were

very few Tkpxzv in the streets.

"This place is hauntingly beautiful... like a well kept cemetery,"

Ferb commented. Perry chattered, which told Ferb absolutely nothing. He was

kind of starting to miss the sound of other human beings.

"Travelers."

Ferb and Perry looked up. A blue Tkpxzv stood over them, "Where are

you headed?"

"To see the governor," Ferb said, "We have an appointment."

"I see," he replied. He drew a rope-like arm out of his mop and

motioned to a large glass circle on the ground, "Step over there."

Ferb and Perry walked over and stood on the glass circle. The Tkpxzv

went and wound his rope around a nearby crystal that was sticking out of the

ground. He closed his eyes and a moment later red energy began glowing in his

rope. After a moment a red light enveloped Ferb and Perry, and they

disappeared.

Then reappeared at another glass circle inside a large, sapphire-

looking room. In the center was what looked like a huge, fluffy marshmallow

with a gold-colored Tkpxzv on it. His head rose up and his multiple red eyes

looked down at Perry and Ferb.

"Don't tell me..." the Tkpxzv closed his eyes a moment, "You are...

Ferb and Perry? And you want permission to land on Tizilidai to pick up your

sister?"

"Uh... yes," Ferb said.

"I'm afraid..." the governor said, "You may be too late. Phineas is

already on the planet attempting to destroy her before our invasion, which

will begin very soon... too soon for you to reach the system before it

begins."

"You can call Phineas off," Ferb growled, "I will take Candace home

and get her out of your way."

"I would be happy to let you take her, but reaching her in time would

be nearly impossible. I grant you permission to go to Tizilidai to look for

her... I'll tell our guard craft to let you pass... but it might be a waste of

your time. Candace will have to survive Phineas and our invasion before you

can reach her."

"You don't have to let Phineas kill her."

"I actually lost contact with him when he tried to get through the

Alion defenses... he could possibly be dead."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying you can go look for your sister, but I'm warning you that

she might be dead by the time you reach her."

"I'll have to try anyway."

"Very well... good luck to you, Ferb and Perry. May I help you with

anything else?"

Ferb looked at Perry. Perry shook his head.

"That's all," Ferb said.

"All right, take care," the governor said. He closed his eyes and the

glass underneath Ferb and Perry glowed again, then teleported them back to the

first glass circle, next to the rocket. Ferb looked down at Perry.

"I'm going to have to use the rocket's afterburners," he said.

Perry growled.

Isabella sat on Candace's porch, looking up at the stars. The Alions

used almost no electric lights, so the view was spectacular. She'd seen less

stars on camping trips with the Fireside Girls... on clear nights. The

constellations were all different, though. She wondered if the Fireside Girls

had a patch for charting stars on an alien planet... with patches like

"Wrestling an Alligator in a Sewer", it seemed like a real possibility.

Isabella sighed. She wondered how Gretchen was doing with her old

troop. The girl was pretty smart, but she didn't exactly have a type A

personality. Addyson Sweetwater may have taken the reins from her by now...

"I didn't really have time to think it over..." Isabella mumbled,

"When I made Gretchen the new leader. I'd just kind of assumed it."

She stared at the sky, wondering which star was the sun. She missed

the Fireside Girls. She missed Danville. She missed the long Summer days

playing in the backyard with Phineas and Ferb.

"How did it come to this, Isabella?" she asked herself, "Things were

so wonderful... how did they go so wrong?"

Everything she had had, was gone. She'd given them all up for her one

true love. That was pretty romantic, she thought, but she almost wondered if

it was really worth it. She'd never dreamed she'd have had to sacrifice so

much to be with Phineas... and it wasn't even the same Phineas she had fallen

in love with. This new one was angry and vengeful and corrupt. He was still

brilliant, and he still treated her well, but beside that... he was getting

worse and worse, and he was probably going to crash and burn sooner or later.

And the best part was that she was probably going down with him.

"Isabella."

Isabella jumped and looked around in surprise. Candace was standing

in the door behind her.

"Mind if I come out?" she asked.

"Uh... sure," Isabella replied. She wasn't totally sure she DIDN'T

mind... but she had to play her part.

"Cool," Candace replied. She stepped out and sat down next to

Isabella.

"You need something?" Isabella asked.

"We haven't talked since I was in that prison cell. I thought maybe

we could catch up a little."

"Okay... what do you want to talk about?"

"Well... what have you and Phineas been up to?"

"Phineas got assigned to help the Tkpxzv take Trisaria. He invented

the Discourager Ray to destroy the defender's morale, and I must say it

worked quite well... except for with you. You were the only one who figured

out what was up."

Candace shrugged, "I guess I am related to Phineas."

"Yep, you were pretty smart... you were a good shot, too," Isabella

growled.

"That was horrible," Candace said, "I thought I heard him scream, but

I didn't think I'd really hit him until I heard YOU scream."

"Hey, all's fair in love and war," Isabella said dismissively.

"I didn't want to hit him though! I knew I had to get rid of the gun,

but I didn't want to shoot my little brother!"

Isabella snorted, "Well, ya did. If you weren't ready to shoot him,

you shouldn'ta come to the fight."

Candace looked at Isabella, "You've gotten an attitude since we last

met."

"This ain't nothin'... last time I was shooting at you."

"What do you mean?"

"After you shot Phineas I picked up a gun and fired back, but like a

dumb rookie I missed."

"You wanted to hit me?" Candace said, taken aback.

"Seeing your champion screaming and bleeding all over the ground will

do that to you."

Candace was quiet for a bit, "I guess you hate me too, then?"

"Yep."

Candace looked at the ground for a while, "Sorry."

"Sorry? You think sorry's gonna fix everything?"

"No... I'm just sorry... sorry for everything. I wish I had never

busted those two... looking back, I don't even know why I ever wanted too. I

wish everything was back to the way it was, with Phineas and Ferb inventing,

and you leading your troop, and me still failing to bust them and Mom still

not getting it."

Isabella shrugged, "Well, I'm sorry for all that too, but fat lotta

good that does, huh?"

"I know..." Candace said, "I wrecked everything... and I can't fix

it."

"No, you can't."

Candace stood up, "I guess you probably don't want to talk to me then,

if you hate me?"

"Not really."

"Okay," Candace began walking back to the door.

Isabella turned back to the sky, wishing Candace had just stayed

inside. She was mad now.

"Isabella."

Isabella turned and looked, "What?"

Candace looked back with tears in her eyes, "You know what I'm most

sorry for? That I hurt you... and that I hurt Phineas... so much. Your lives

are ruined... all because of me. I'm so sorry Isabella... so sorry..."

And with that, she turned back and went inside.

Isabella stared in disbelief. Finally, she groaned and turned back to

the sky. She REALLY wished Candace had stayed inside now. Her insides were

twisting with a mixture of rage and guilt. As mad as she was at Candace, she

knew the things that had happened weren't really her fault... they were

Phineas'. Actually, in a way, they weren't completely his fault either. The

whole mess had really been caused by a train of incredibly unlucky events that

had torn their world apart and put all of them into a rotten situation that

they didn't really want to be in.

Isabella heard an electronic beep. A communicator she had taken from

the shipwreck was going off.

"Phineas," she whispered. She stood up and walked a little ways off

into the nearby forest, then answered it.

"Isabella here," she said.

"Hey, Isabella, I've got coordinates for you and Candace to meet me at

tomorrow."

Isabella looked at the communicator's screen, "I see them... right

next to that big gorge?"

"Yep. I need you to bring Candace and walk past those coordinates

tomorrow. I'll be hiding behind a boulder. When you walk by, I'm going to

jump out from behind the rock and shove Candace off the cliff and into the

gorge... make sure she's close to the edge when you go by."

Isabella had to take a moment to get her head around this. She and

Phineas were planning MURDER... not something she did too often, to say the

least.

"Phineas..." Isabella said, "Do we really... you know...?"

"YES, Isabella, let's just get it over with. We can get rid of her

and the Alions and then we can get on with our lives."

"I mean, the last time I killed someone I didn't realize what I was

doing... and then it turned out I hadn't actually done it..."

"Isabella, this is the start of a new life for us. We need to embrace

it, not fight it. Don't think of it as murder, think of it as...

assassination. We're fighting for the Tkpxzv empire."

Isabella shook her head, "No, Phineas, this is murder, cold-blooded

murder..."

"Isabella, are you with me or against me?"

"I'm with you! I just... have compunctions against killing people."

"Look, you took an oath, and you've stood by it. You got your reward

for keeping it: me. If you weren't fully committed you should have quit when

we were back on Earth."

"I didn't think that you would go this far, Phineas!"

"So you're gonna wuss out, after all we've been through, is that what

I'm hearing?"

"What? No, I-!"

"Then let's do this and put it behind us, okay?"

"Can't we club her on the head and tie her up or something?"

"No. This ends now. Once Candace and the Alions are dead, we'll be

paid spectacularly for beating the Tkpxzv's biggest enemy and we can do

whatever we want, are you in or are you out?"

Isabella's heart pounded. He was asking too much, and yet all he was

asking was for her to keep the oath she'd made. Mad as she was at Candace,

premeditated murder just seemed too extreme.

"I should break my oath. I should ditch you," she said.

"But you can't do it, can you?"

Isabella growled, "No, because if I did I would lose you forever...

and I can't bear that."

"So... you're going to help me kill Candace tomorrow?"

Isabella hesitated. All kinds of alarms were going off in her head,

but then she heard herself say the inevitable response, "Yes."

"You better. Everything we've worked for has come down to this. You

cannot fail."

"Okay..." Isabella said shakily.

"Good. Don't take it so hard Isabella... you've already done it once.

Remember how good you felt when all the rules were just... gone? Because

you'd killed those FBI guys?"

Isabella swallowed, not really hearing what he was saying, "Yes..."

"That's how it's gonna be tomorrow, once Candace is smashed at the

bottom of those cliffs, okay?"

"Okay..."

"Good. Get some rest, you're gonna need it."

"Okay..."

"Goodnight, Isabella."

"Okay..."

"What?"

"Erm, I mean, goodnight."

"Just don't fold before it's over."

"All right."

Phineas hung up. Isabella stared at the ground, eyes not seeing

anything. Her brain had locked up. She couldn't comprehend what she was

about to do. It was too awful... and yet she couldn't stop herself. The

price of failure was too high... though the price of success wasn't a whole

lot lower...

"Tomorrow. Candace dies. Right," Isabella muttered.

The next day, Isabella found herself leading Candace through the

forest, straight toward Phineas' coordinates. It was a long, awkward walk.

The cliffs were several miles outside the village, and neither girl spoke to

the other for a long time. This was especially bad for Isabella, who knew

what was about to happen and who's heart felt like it was about to bust out of

her chest. She finally decided to say something, just to relieve the tension.

"So, Candace, not that I care, but what have you been doing since you

shot Phineas?"

"Training to be an Alion warrior."

Isabella raised her eyebrows, "Really?"

"What else is there to do? I can't go back to Earth without being

followed by the Tkpxzv."

"New life, huh?"

"Yep."

"Is that your weapon?"

Candace looked down at her swordspear, which she had brought, "Yeah."

"Wouldn't that be really hard to use? It's really long."

"Yes, it is hard to use. I think they used it in ancient times to

make spear walls... but that doesn't help me much, does it?"

"Not really."

"I didn't actually pick the weapon, apparently the heavens or

something thought I should use it."

"Why?"

"How should I know? The Mysterious Force just kinda does whatever it

wants."

"So... how do you use it?"

"You use it to keep the other guy far away from you. When he runs at

you you back up and swing while you're at it and catch him on the blade."

"Interesting... kind of slow-mo fighting?"

"I guess. You know, Alions are a lot stronger than people are.

Xosizi took this thing at the end and swung it through a tree. I think they

can swing a swordspear almost as well as a regular sword."

"But you can't."

"No, so I don't get why they gave me this thing."

Isabella shrugged, "Maybe the universe wants you to get killed."

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

They were silent again for a long time. Eventually they reached the

foothills and began climbing into the mountains. It wasn't long before they

were alongside the gorge. Isabella's heart rate really picked up now. They

were really, really close. Her head was screaming at her to stop, to not do

it, but for some reason she ignored it and kept walking. She made sure

Candace was walking on her left side, next to the cliff, then as they got

within a hundred feet of Phineas' position, she spoke.

"So Candace, I got a riddle for ya... what's black and white and red

all over?"

"A nun rolling down stairs."

"So what's red and white and screams all over?"

"Screams all over? Is that even-?"

"You falling off a cliff!"

Candace glanced to her right just as Phineas dashed out from behind a

boulder and ran at her, arms outstretched. She dropped her spear and swung

around, catching him as he tackled her. He shoved her back several inches,

sending her to the cliff's edge but not quite over. Candace dug in and

pushed back. Normally she would have been able to shove him back from the

cliff, but she couldn't put her leg back far enough to get the force she

needed. Thus, the two stood pushing against each other, but without going

anywhere.

"You were gonna push me over a cliff? That's low Phineas, that's real

low... and kinda simplistic for you."

"Simple machines work best, Candace," he retorted.

"Phineas, can't we just talk this out?"

"No! Isabella! Help me will you?"

"Uh..." Isabella hesitated.

Candace looked over at Isabella in horror, realizing her life was in

the little girl's hands, "Isabella, please, don't..."

"Isabella, you promised!" Phineas said.

"I know but... you really could talk this out..."

"Just do it!"

"No, don't do it!"

"Phineas I really don't want to..."

"You have to! I can't do it alone!"

"Isabella, you're not a murderer!"

"Oh, yes she is! And she enjoyed it, too, remember? All that can

come back!"

"Well..."

"Isabella, come on!" both Flynns shouted together.

"He can't make you do anything, Isabella! This is your choice!"

"She's right, but you can make yourself do it! You have a promise to

keep!"

"Is that how far you've sunk? You use her good-hearted promise to

manipulate her into doing what you want?" Candace yelled.

"It was her choice! She should have known what she was signing up

for!"

"Yeah? Well you know what I think of that?" Candace said. She

suddenly stopped pushing, causing Phineas to stumble forward. As he did, she

grabbed his shirt and swung around, lifting him into the air and then holding

him over the edge of the cliff.

"PHINEAS!" Isabella screamed.

"Uh, oh," Phineas said.

"I should drop you. I really should. It would fix everything,"

Candace said coldly.

Phineas' lip curled into a sinister grin, "But you can't, can you?"

"More like I won't. I'm not like you. I don't try to kill my

siblings, no matter how rotten they are."

"How noble... fat lotta good being noble's done for you though, huh?"

Candace thought a moment, "Ya know, it kinda has. I don't think

anyone back home would have ever said that Candace Flynn was more noble than

Phineas Flynn. I think this is the first time I've ever been better than you

at anything."

Phineas laughed derisively. Isabella, however, was alarmed by the

statement, mostly because it fulfilled a prophecy she herself had made earlier

while speaking to Candace aboard Hgtfpjsh's spacecraft.

"Every sin that boy commits makes him weaker..."

Isabella had long since noticed that Phineas, who had once been a much

stronger person than Candace, had been weakening, and that Candace had been

getting stronger. She had known that if the pattern continued, Candace would

eventually outshine and beat her champion... and here it was, right in front

of her. This was the turning point she had foreseen. Both siblings had had

the option (and reason) to kill the other that day... but Candace was the one

that had spared her enemy.

"That was his last chance to turn around..." Isabella whispered, "From

here on out, Candace starts winning, and he starts losing... unless..."

Isabella watched as Candace whirled around and flung Phineas back onto

the ledge.

"What a wimp," Phineas sniped.

"Just remember that I beat you today, Phineas," Candace growled, "And

think twice before you come after me again."

Phineas laughed, "I may have lost the battle, but I'll win the war.

The Tkpxzv are coming to annihilate this planet tomorrow, and I-"

Isabella suddenly reached over, grabbed Candace and shoved her over

the cliff. Candace screamed and flung her arms out, barely catching the edge

with her left hand and accidentally grabbing her swordspear with the other.

Isabella stepped on her left fingers.

Candace grimaced in pain, then looked up sorrowfully at Isabella,

"You've finally picked a side, haven't you?"

Isabella felt like she was going to cry, "Yes," she said tearfully.

"Phineas doesn't deserve a friend like you."

"I know."

"God bless you for standing by him, Isabella."

Isabella swallowed a lump in her throat, "I'm sorry, Candace."

"Watch over him... I can't anymore."

"I will. I promised."

"Goodbye, Isabella."

"Goodbye, Candace."

And with that, Isabella pushed Candace's fingers off and sent her into

the abyss. Candace didn't even scream. She just fell calmly until she

disappeared into the mist below.

Tears ran down Isabella's cheeks. She WAS a murderer now. There was

no excuse, no redemption, no nothing. The funny thing though, was that she

didn't even feel free like she had last time. This time, she was just sad-sad

because she hadn't wanted to kill her... but she knew if was the only way to

save Phineas. She was truly bound to him now. She had sealed her promise

forever with Candace's blood. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Good job, Isabella," Phineas said quietly, "Now we're free."

Isabella didn't talk for a moment. She turned and looked at him for

a moment. Then she smiled slightly through her tears.

"Yes, Phineas, yes we are."


	7. Chapter 7: Bottom of Cliff, Top of Dam

Chapter 7: At the Bottom of a Cliff and on Top of a Dam

Stacy looked at the bunks in the training camp's barracks. This was

where she would be sleeping tonight. It was better than the alleyway, at

least... sort of. I mean, the alleyway had more space...

"Stacy."

Stacy turned and saw Flynnya standing next to her.

"What?" She replied.

"You going to bed already?"

"Uh, YEAH. I've been running all over the city and sneaking around

and giving speeches all day. I'm pretty tired."

"What're you gonna tell your troops in the morning?"

"I don't know, and I don't care."

"They're gonna want to know what the plan is."

"There is no plan. You were supposed to come up with that, at least

until they made me leader."

"I have a plan."

"Do you? Good, you tell me and I'll tell them tomorrow."

"CandasaurusCity is entirely powered by a big hydroelectric dam a

couple miles up the Red River. If we can capture the dam, we can cut off the

power to the city."

"Okay... how does that help us?"

"The dam is a good defensive position. The power station is up on a

hill. If we take it and turn the power off, the Tkpxzv will be forced to come

out of the city and attack us there."

"Right, and then they'll kill us up there. It's gonna take more than

a hill for us to beat all those Tkpxzv."

"I'm not done. If we fortify the power station the Tkpxzv won't be

able to attack us from the air."

Stacy thought a bit, "Because they need the station to run the dam,

and if one of their ships miss it'll blow it up?"

"Yes, and we can use the pulverizer cannons to tear up the road that

leads to the station. That'll make it so they can't bring their tanks up

there, either. They're not built to go off-road on rough terrain."

"Okay, so they'll have to walk up there, but that's still not gonna

stop them from killing us."

"Right, but the mirrors will."

"I thought mirrors just helped you look good."

"The Tkpxzv use lasers to shoot their enemies-"

"So we're going to use mirrors to deflect their shots?"

"Yeah. We'll surround the station with walls of logs and mirrors.

The recruits can hide behind the walls and be safe from the Tkpxzv shots."

"What happens when their lasers don't work?"

"The Tkpxzv will be forced to charge the hill and fight us hand-to-

hand."

"And... how is that a good thing? They've got those shocker rope-"

"If you let me finish I'll tell you."

"Right."

"We're going to cut off the power to the city by diverting it to

ourselves. We're going to mine the ground around the station with a net of

live electric wires."

"So when they charge they'll get fried?"

"Yes, and the electricity will destroy their force field, leaving them

open to our attacks."

"Do you think the pulverizer cannons will have enough ammunition to

kill them all?"

"No. From our commanding position up on the hill, we'll throw heavy

rocks at them and kill them like that."

"You're gonna throw rocks at them? I don't think that would kill very

many of them."

Flynnya frowned, "Well... it would probably get them to retreat, at

least."

"Yeah, so we'll hold the power station until they come up with a way

past our defenses, like... a rubber roll-out carpet. Do you have any idea how

we're going to beat them once they get close?"

"I was hoping that between the rocks and the electricity and what's

left of the pulverizers and our recruits' trench knives we'd be able to hold

them off until the city rebels."

"The city's going to rebel?"

"You can see the dam from the city. Every year on Candace Day, they

pull out a big national flag they keep there and put it on top of the dam for

everyone to see. The Tkpxzv have, of course, banned the flying of our flag.

If we fly the flag out over the dam-"

"The Candasaurs in the city will see it and realize that all hope is

not lost!"

"Yes, and the longer we hold the dam, the more faith they'll gain in

whoever it is that's captured the dam-"

"And you're hoping they'll gain enough confidence to revolt against

the Tkpxzv?"

"Right."

Stacy scratched her chin. It wasn't a bad plan, but it didn't seem

like it would be enough. With some modifications however...

"I like it," Stacy said.

"You do?"

"Yeah, but I'm gonna add some things in."

"Like what?"

"You'll find out."

"Why?"

...

"Why didn't you just let it happen?"

...

"Why didn't you just let me splat and be done with it? I would've

been fine with it, you know..."

...

"I got nothing to live for. My life is hell. You should've just let

me die."

...

"But you would never be that kind, would you? You would never do

something like that for me, would you?"

...

"I should just let go and kill myself. Then I'll finally be able to

see you and slug you in the face for everything you've done to me."

...

"And you don't even answer! Why do you torture me?"

...

"You don't even care, do you? You never have. You've never given

a #% * about Candace Flynn! As far as you're concerned, I'm just your

whipping girl! I'm just here for you to laugh at! I'll bet you're laughing

right now, huh? Well, hey, laugh it up! I'll bet this is pretty funny for

you!"

...

"And guess what? I'll bet it's funny for Phineas, and for Isabella,

and for everyone else! I'll bet the only reason I was even born was so other

people could laugh at me trying so hard so many times and then just having it

all blow up in my face!"

...

"...you're so cruel. You ruined everything I ever tried to do...

and now you couldn't even let Phineas put me out of my misery..."

...

"Well guess what? You can't control me anymore. I'm going to die and

end this sad story right now. I'm gonna let go of this spear, and I'm gonna

fall to the bottom of this gorge, and I'm going to die, and you won't be able

to hurt me anymore. See you in hell, Mysterious Force."

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Ugh! I can't do it! Why?"

...

"Candace Flynn, just let go of this stupid spear and fall already!"

...

"...fine. I don't even have the guts to kill myself. I guess I'll

just hang here until I finally lose my grip. Until then, I might as well be

comfortable... stick my feet against the rocks... my hands are getting tired."

...

"That's better. Now I just sit here until I get too weak to hold

myself up. What a funny ending to a short, funny life, wouldn't you say,

Mysterious Force?"

...

...

...

...

...

...

Sigh... "...Candace, you've been through a lot, but this is worse than

everything else. You're going to die alone, forgotten, and friendless. This

is truly the darkest hour of your life."

...

"Darkest hour... why does that sound familiar? It's like something I

heard. A song, maybe?"

...

...

"I remember. It was that stupid Alion prophecy. It was one of the

last things the guy said, 'In your darkest, and more specifically, your

LONELIEST hour, remember what Candace said to you just before you began

learning folklore.' Hm... darkest, loneliest hour? I guess this is it then.

What did she say? Um..."

...

...

...

"Something about me needing other people's approval... some little

proverb with a little moral to it..."

...

...

"A hero... something about a hero. A hero is... carried... on her

brother's shoulders, but... a true hero... stands on her own feet? Yeah... a

hero is carried on her brother's shoulders, but a true hero stands on her own

feet."

...

...

...

...

"In other words, a real hero is still a hero when the crowd stops

cheering and he's by himself. He's not a hero because everyone likes him,

he's a hero because that's who he is. He does brave and glorious things to

defend what he believes in, even if no one stands with him."

...

...

"Yeah, I know. I get the lesson."

...

"I may be alone. My life may be hell. But I'm still alive, and as

long as I'm living I can't give up. I've got things to do, I've got a picture

to draw. If I'm the only person to live for, that's enough. I need to climb

out of this gorge and save myself."

...

...sigh... "...well, here goes."

Stacy never knew she was so good at bossing people around. The next

morning she organized her recruits and sent them all over. She had them

ripping metal from camp buildings, chopping wood, stealing aerosols from the

city, building various contraptions, polishing the metal, gathering food, and

many other things. By sunset, she and the recruits marched out of camp and

around the city with their supplies, making sure to stick to the forests and

stay under cover. They reached the dam well after dark, and found it almost

completely unguarded. They killed the two guards before they could call for

help and captured the power station.

They didn't stop there though. Stacy wanted all the fortifications

in place before the night was over. She knew it was only a matter of time

before the Tkpxzv realized they had the station and came up to get them. She

knew if they came and her recruits weren't ready, they were dead. The

recruits worked hard, and they were done on time. All they needed to do was

cut the power to the city, divert it to their defense grid and raise the flag

over the dam.

Stacy, Flynnya, and Triso walked out onto the dam with a small troop

of Candasaurs. They stopped somewhere out in the middle and looked out at the

city's sparkling lights.

"All about to go dark," Flynnya said.

"That's right," said Stacy, "Just as soon as the sun-or whatever this

star is called comes out over the hills."

"Candasaurus City is going to wake up to a power outage and a flag

flying in the sunrise. Good thing it's usually windy up here..."

Stacy turned and looked behind her, waiting for Epsilon Eridani to

come up. It took a while, but it finally peaked over the horizon. She pulled

out a radio and spoke into it.

"Shut 'em off," she said.

A few seconds later Candasaurus City went dark. The power was now all

in the recruits' electric minefield.

"Raise the colors!" Stacy ordered.

The Candasaur troop began unfurling a huge, solid red flag. They took

it over to a very tall flagpole and hoisted it up. Pretty soon the wind and

the rising star caught the crimson fabric and its big white "C."

"Salute!" Stacy cried.

They did. They held it for a bit.

"Arms down!" Stacy yelled.

Everyone put their arms down. They stood back and admired their flag.

Stacy pulled up her radio again, "Can you see it, Jim?" She had sent him and

around a hundred recruits into the city as spies and saboteurs, both to give

her news and also to help get the citizens to revolt.

"I can see it, Stacy," he replied.

"How's it look?"

He paused, then replied, "It looks like a challenge."

"So, you got rid of her, then?"

"Yes, yes we did."

"Good, now nothing will stop us! Pkdx! Begin the attack!"

Isabella barely heard Phineas talking to the governor, or the

governor ordering his commander to attack Tizilidai. She stared numbly out at

the Alion village, dimly noting that the fireworks were about to start. The

Alions had concentrated most of their forces at this village to fight off the

Tkpxzv attack, though, from what she could gather, they had left guards in

other parts of the planet in case her information about the attack's location

had been a trick.

It wasn't. Soon a bomb hit the ground in the village, sirens rang

out, and Sphere Blasters erupted from the trees and began firing at the

nearly invisible Tkpxzv spacecraft.

"And thus begins the Invasion of Tizilidai!" Phineas exclaimed.

Isabella looked up at the emerging dogfight.

"Yep."

Ferb and Perry were flying through the middle of nowhere, listening to

the galactic news on the rocket's radio.

"This just in: Tkpxzv forces have just launched an assault on the

planet of Tizilidai in the Epsilon Eridani system!"

"No!" Ferb cried.

Perry chattered excitedly.

"Darn it!" Ferb yelled, pounding his fist on the control panel, "I

flew as fast as I could, but it was all for naught!"

Perry gurgled in agreement.

Ferb put his head in his hand, "Oh, Candace, Mother, Father, I have

failed you! Dear heavens, let my sister survive somehow! Help her save

herself, for I cannot!"

Ferb looked at Perry, "Do you think she'll make it?"

Perry blinked in response.

Ferb sighed, "That's right. We can't tell. We can only hope."

Perry chattered again.

The newscaster spoke, "Coincidentally, in the same system, but on the

planet of Trisaria, the natives appear to have risen up in rebellion against

the Tkpxzv occupiers. They have captured a hydroelectric dam that powers the

planet's capital city. The Tkpxzv forces are moving to retake the dam as we

speak. Updates on both these stories throughout the day!"

Ferb furrowed his brow, "Trisaria as well? IS this a coincidence?"

Perry shook his head emphatically.

"I agree. Something's going on that we don't know about. Perhaps

there is some hope that whoever orchestrated this will be able to repel the

Tkpxzv and give us time to reach Candace."

Perry shrugged.

Ferb looked forward with determination, "Hang on, Candace, we're

coming!"

"They're coming for you Stacy!" Jim cried.

"Copy!" she said.

The Candasaurs began muttering excitedly. Flynnya turned to Stacy,

"You ready for this, o, fearless leader?"

Stacy groaned, "As I'll ever be," she pulled up her radio,

"Battlestations, everyone! The Tkpxzv are coming! Repeat, the Tkpxzv are

coming! Let's go, go, go!"

She and her flag troop ran back to the power station as the other

recruits picked up their weapons and got behind their barricades. They all

heard the roar of a Tkpxzv reconnaissance craft flying overhead, and then

flying back to the city. Not long after they could see Tkpxzv tanks rolling

through the trees in the forest below. Just as Stacy and her crew reached

the station, she could see Tkpxzv infantry climbing the hill toward them and

she barely had time to catch her breath after she reached her position before

the first Tkpxzv soldiers marched into full view. They massed together and

raised their odd weapons. Stacy and the Candasaurs tensed.

"Grth!" a Tkpxzv yelled. The Tkpxzv opened fire all down their line.

The lasers hit the highly polished metal the Candasaurs had prepared and

bounced off. After shooting for a few seconds, the Tkpxzv realized it was

futile and ceased fire. They paused for a bit, then another order was given

and they began charging up the hill.

Stacy crossed her fingers, but there was no need. The Tkpxzv ran

straight into the trap, getting their force field blown up and themselves

fried. Several dozen of them got pushed into the minefield by the force of

their charge before they were able to stop. Once halted, the Tkpxzv took a

few steps back. Stacy smiled as she heard their captain cursing in his

native tongue.

"So far, so good..." a nearby recruit said.

The Tkpxzv seemed temporarily stumped by the electric mines. They

withdrew a bit and appeared to wait.

A couple hours later some Tkpxzv came with a large, rolled-up rubber

rug.

"Uh, huh. Yep," Stacy said.

The Tkpxzv put the carpet on the ground, then lifted it with their

psychic abilities and rolled it out over the electric minefield. Then they

lined up in front of it.

Stacy held her radio to her mouth and spoke to the recruits, "In this

place, at this time, for this task..." she whispered.

"YRRRX!" the Tkpxzv captain screamed. The Tkpxzv horde shouted and

surged over their rubber rug.

"FIRE!" Stacy shouted.

The recruits let loose a huge barrage of rocks upon the Tkpxzv.

Besides just throwing them, they also flung heavy piles of them with catapults

Stacy had had built... one of her "modifications." These catapults also had

ceramic pots and buckets full of burning grease. They exploded when they hit

their targets and incinerated large knots of Tkpxzv. The barrage from the

defenders was so ferocious that none of the Tkpxzv in the first charge

reached the barricades, or even came close for that matter. It wasn't long,

however, before some more grouped together and charged again. Again, Stacy

ordered her soldiers to open fire.

The uprising had begun.

It took her well into the night, but Candace climbed all the way to

the bottom of the gorge. She slept there until morning, then she looked

around, found her swordspear (which she had knocked out from between the rocks

they had gotten caught in once she had all her limbs on the cliff side), and

began marching back for Kilisyth. She walked on dully for hours, still

wondering why she hadn't killed herself. As she reached the gorge's outlet,

she began hearing sounds. Sounds like BOOM!... and tornado sirens... and

engine roars. She was confused for a bit, then she remembered.

"Oh, no," Candace muttered. She ran for a minute 'till she was out of

the gorge. She quickly crested a nearby hill and looked down at Kilisyth.

Sphere Blasters were flying, guns were blazing, bombs were falling,

and the whole area seemed to be in a state of general turmoil.

"The attack... I forgot," she muttered.

She gazed out at the battlefield, taking it all in, and only wondering

about one thing-where was he?

"You're waiting for the right moment to strike. I know you're here.

I know you're out there... Phineas."

_Continued in The Picture: Part 4-The War_


End file.
